Shadows of War
by obfuscation
Summary: As Harry and his friends prepare for their sixth year, the arrival of a new Defense Against the Dark Arts, whom everyone trusts except Harry. But when a sudden wave of attacks threaten to break up the Trio, will Harry's fears come to life?
1. Advent

**Disclaimer: See bio.**

**Timeline: Post OotP, pre-HBP**

**Author's Note: I would just like to say that despite the current date of posting, this story has been in development for quite some time before the release of HBP. I began brainstorming last November and had finished outlining the entire story three months ago but due to unforeseen personal issues was not able to get this up prior to the HBP release date. I just wanted to say this before you read this fic because I do _NOT_ want thirteen thousand e-mails screaming rip-off. Thank you and enjoy.**

**Shadow of War**

**Advent**

Peace has fallen across Privet Drive although no one save the Dursley's and their estranged nephew knew why. Rumors spread that the boy was being held under lock and key in a newly constructed basement to keep him away from the populous. Others theorized that maybe the boy from St. Brutus' Center for the Incurably Insane actually murdered the Dursley's and left their bodies to rot in said basement, but that rumor was soon debunked when the Dursley's left for a few days unscathed. The boy never did anything in the house, much less leave it. The neighbors wouldn't have even been able to know he was there if they didn't see him enter the house two weeks ago.

But the boy was still there. The boy, Harry Potter, was currently residing in his room at Number Four, Privet Drive and had done so for the past two weeks. He spent most of his time lying on his bed, some spare time scribbling a few words onto small pieces of parchment usually consisting of; "I'm fine," or "Nothing new," or even the occasional "Pretty dull over here," that were then sent by owl to Lupin so the Order didn't get too worried about him. He'd sneak out every once and a while at night to grab some food from the fridge, but that never consisted of much.

But on this particular day, at around five thirty in the afternoon, Harry Potter was just lying on his bed. Thinking. About what was a good question because he wasn't too sure of it himself. Sometimes it was about school, Hogwarts School for Witchcraft and Wizardry, other times it was about his friends Ron and Hermione. But still others, and the one that took up the most of his thought, were his godfather Sirius and an archway in the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic. He remembered it. He remembered it vividly. He remembered it every night, reliving the few moments between when Sirius' cocky expression suddenly lost its cool and he fell through the shroud covering the archway. He remembered how Lupin grabbed him before he could run to the veil, thinking that Sirius was just on the other side…but no, he wasn't there. He was gone, just like everything else in his life. His parents, the closest thing he ever had to a father, and most likely his future as well.

The prophecy haunted his time as well; the knowledge passed to him from Dumbledore of the reasons behind his cursed destiny. Something that meant absolutely _nothing_ to him before and yet seemed to mean everything now. _Why did this have to happen? Why am I cursed to live this life?_ But he also knew that he could not answer those questions either. He also knew that he was to remain with the Dursley's for at least part of the year until either he or Voldemort was dead. It was not because he liked where he was, he really had no choice in the matter. It had all been explained to him and worse yet, it all made sense. He _had_ to go to Privet Drive to live with his relatives. He _had_ to live with the Dursleys for his own protection. What did it matter that there was a war going on? It doesn't matter that I'm the only one that can stop Voldemort and I have no clue what's happening. It's just like last year all over ag-

Something landed on his stomach. Startled, he looked down to see a small owl jumping and hooting wildly. Pig, and there's a letter. Harry reached out and grabbed the bouncing ball of fluff and removed the letter. Ripping open the letter Harry recognized Hermione's writing immediately.

_Harry,_

_Sorry this has taken so long but I do have good news. We're getting you out of there on Monday. Moody and a few of the Order will be there at noon to get you. _

_Also, just in case you were wondering, nothing has happened. Voldemort's been lying low, it's almost like it was before he came back. The Ministry has been sending out information about protecting against Death Eaters and Dark Magic but Voldemort hasn't made any moves…_

Harry scanned down farther…

_I'm at Snuffle's House with Lupin and the Weasley's. We've been trying to clean it up for the last week or so, but we haven't gotten much headway. Now before you get angry, we've been trying to get Dumbledore to let you out since school ended but he said this is the earliest you can leave. Believe me, we tried to get you out last week but Dumbledore said that you needed to stay there for at least two weeks but we couldn't figure out why _(I never told them about the blood).

_I'm sorry that I wasn't able to get this to you sooner, there's been a lot of Order traffic through the house and they've been somewhat cautious about letting owls out of the house in case we were being watched. They finally me send this to you after making me promise to ask you not to reply in case you were being watched. If there is some reason that you don't want to come on Monday, just tell Tonks or Moody when they get there_

_We'll see you soon…hopefully._

_Love,_

_Hermione_

_Why did they think that I wouldn't want to go to Grimmauld Place? They all know I hate being here!_ Then it dawned on him; they all know that I'm afraid for their wellbeing after…Sirius. They know that I don't want anything to happen to them…_she's giving me an out…she's saying that I don't have to come…I have a choice…I'm not staying here and waiting on the sidelines._

At that he pulled himself from his indentation on the bed and began to pile books, robes, potion supplies, and other assorted magical items into the large chest that spent much of its time lying at the foot of his bed. If he wasn't going to back at Privet Drive for nearly a year, he didn't want Dudley going through anything that could get him in trouble.

- - - - - - -

Harry awoke Monday morning, the weariness of the last few sleepless weeks finally sinking in. As the Dursley's no longer forced him to make breakfast, he often missed the most important meal of the day and slept in till ten o'clock in the morning. Today however, was different, as he had spent most of the night forcing things inside his trunk, he didn't wake up until after eleven thirty. This by no means meant that he was well rested, but it left him scrambling to get ready before the group of Order members arrived.

After taking the shortest shower in recorded history, getting dressed and deciding not to bother with his hair for the umpteenth time, Harry heard the tell-tale _pop!_ of a person apparating, then that sound was repeated what must have been five or six times. But the sound that followed was what he was worried about.

"Who the hell are you people and why are you in my house!" he could hear his Uncle Vernon yelling from up the stairs, down the hallway, and through his door and he knew exactly what was going to follow. "Boy! Get down here!" then in a much less stern voice, "Please."

_Please? Uncle Vernon never said please for anything in his life before that point. _But he soon found out why. As he descended the stairs to the living room, he saw a sight that he would cherish forever. Inside the room stood Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Mad Eye Moody all accompanied by a man he didn't recognize; but what stood out was his Uncle Vernon's look of horror, disgust, and feigned sincerity. A wide range of emotions to be sure considering they all came about due to the wand pointed at him by Arthur Weasley. "…can understand that you may not like us because we're different from you, but that doesn't mean that you can disrespect your own flesh and blood. Oh, hi Harry," Mr. Weasley called out as Harry entered the room.

"Wotcher Harry, where's your stuff?" Tonks called out, her hair now undecided on a hue and was slowly fading from color to color, it was currently lime green.

"It's up in my room, give me a minute." Neon yellow.

"Don't worry, Kingsley and I will get it." Fire engine red. The two left the room and Harry saw Aunt Petunia's look of sheer disgust as Tonks' red hair faded to a flaming orange before she slipped out of sight.

"So how have you been Harry?" Mr. Weasley asked lowering his wand from Vernon Dursley's neck allowing the color to return to his Uncle's face. The remainder of the group turned to Harry waiting for a response.

"I'm…okay," he hesitated slightly when he saw Moody's eye flick towards the Dursleys before finishing the statement. The Dursleys obviously noticed this as they seemingly shrank back into the one corner of the room that didn't have anyone connected to magic. Harry's view shifted to the man he had never seen before. He stood roughly six feet tall, clad in a deep midnight blue robe that covered his broad build. Looking at the man's face he noticed two things; a scar that went from his left temple to the corner of his jaw and a pair of glasses that were currently slipping down his nose. He reached up and pushed them back in place and then Harry noticed his gloves. He was wearing pure white gloves, but stitched into the back was a series of circles and triangles. When the man noticed Harry's stare he offered him an outstretched hand.

"Harry Potter, pleasure to meet you. Seran Cleir," he said in a deep gravely voice as Harry shook the man's hand.

"Are you a member of the Order?" Harry ventured carefully. The man nodded slowly. "For how long?"

"Since the first war."

"Did you meet Sirius?"

He nodded again.

"What group was Sirius in and what was his name?"

He looked to Lupin briefly and the werewolf nodded. "He was in the Marauders and his name was Padfoot. He couldn't stand the fleas, if I might add." Harry grinned slightly remembering the mention Sirius had made when they were leaving the Shrieking Shack during his third year. That thought quickly brought a small pang through his chest and his grin faded.

"Constant vigilance Potter, nice of you use it," Moody's grating voice filled the room, "but you don't need to worry about Seran here, he has Dumbledore's full confidence. He's going to be your new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

At this Harry regarded him a bit more carefully. After last year he knew Dumbledore wouldn't merely hire anyone to fill the position and the man standing before him is the one that he chose. Considering the fact that the Wizarding world was growing closer and closer to a time of war there had to be something about this quiet man to make him stand out in Dumbledore's eyes. He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard a slight sniffle from the corner.

"Don't worry Dursley, we don't want to be here any longer than necessary," Moody's hoarse voice filled the silent room. "We'll be gone as soon as the other two are back – and here they are."

Harry turned to see his chest floating down the stairs before Kingsley followed closely by Tonks holding Hedwig's cage. The Dursleys seemed to be mortally afraid that there was a hovering charm being used in their house and Petunia once again made noises of disgust when she saw Tonks' now florescent blue hair."Well, you've gotten what you want, now leave my house," Vernon Dursley said, a bit less forceful than he had hoped.

Mr. Weasley shook his head sadly, "Right, everyone lets get out of here." He quickly produced a pouch of floo powder and all six took a handful. Kingsley walked towards the fire place, climbed in, and shouted, "The Burrow!" and was quickly engulfed in flames.

"The Burrow…I thought we were going to Gri-"

"Don't say it," Moody's voice interrupted Harry's question. Harry turned to see his brilliant blue eye spinning in all directions. "There are dark wizards and Death Eaters everywhere, don't give them any help in finding us."

Harry looked towards the scarred Auror and hoped against hope that after all the times he's been right about dark wizards that he was wrong this time. Of course he had suspected that the number of dark wizards had increased since Voldemort's return but to hear it come from someone that most likely knew more about the dark arts than everyone in this room combined somehow made it feel more real. Harry felt his throat dry as he watched Tonks disappear in the flames.

"You're up Harry," Arthur Weasley said softly. Harry nodded, grabbed a handful of floo and stepped into the fireplace.

"The Burrow!"

Flames surrounded him and that familiar yet unpleasant sensation of being shoved in a whirlpool once again filled his stomach. Pulling his arms in tightly and squinting his eyes, he waited for the vortex to cease. He wasn't sure if he could hold on much longer…

He staggered forward and suddenly felt a hand wrap around his upper left arm. He reacted so quickly he lost his balance and by the time his vision returned he was lying on the floor, wand aimed at a now bleached-blonde Tonks. "You okay, Harry?" her voice filled with concern.

"Yeah…just, yeah I'm fine," he stood up and looked back at her hair, "Can you change that, you're reminding me of a Malfoy." She made a retching noise and her hair quickly changed to a midnight blue. "Much better."

"Sure thing, umm…you might want to move to the side though," Harry turned to see himself standing directly in the path of anyone who came through the fireplace and quickly moved away, just in time for Lupin to come barreling through with Harry's luggage.

"Sorry Harry," Lupin said in an extremely soft and hoarse voice.

"Are you okay?" Harry quickly asked, worry in his voice for the sole remainder of his father's friends.

"Yeah, I'm okay its just…full moon last night, not feeling too well."

"Sorry."

"Don't be, wouldn't have missed it…for the world."

It was at that point that Harry realized a newfound respect for the werewolf. If they were attacked, Lupin would, for the most part, be harmless and unable to cast spells. But he still chose to come get him. He saw the dedication that Sirius had spoken about before and now understood. "Thanks."

"Its okay," he replied hoarsely, floating the chest out of the way seconds before Arthur and Moody came through the fireplace followed closely by Seran.

"Such odd muggles," Seran commented to himself.

"Right, we'll be here 'til nightfall, then we'll be flying to Grimmauld Place," Mr. Weasley stated, glancing towards Moody. Whatever the look meant, Moody understood it and headed for the stairway. Two steps upward and the aged Auror stopped.

"Arthur, we might not have that long," Moody turned and glared out the kitchen windows.

Harry whipped around to see about twenty black cloaks emerging from the trees fifty feet away from the house; they were all wearing white masks.

"They already know we're here, wands out, any suggestions?" Moody grumbled coming back down the stairs.

"We can't fly out now, they'll shoot us down," Tonks' voice sounded from behind Harry.

"Apparate?" Kingsley suggested stepping between Harry and the oncoming Death Eaters…_forty feet…_

"We can't apparate to Grimmauld Place," Mr. Weasley said, desperation showing in his voice. Odds were against them making it out of this fight unscathed. "Unless – apparate to The Leaky Cauldron! Tonks, you take Harry! Kingsley and Lupin grab his things!"

Harry watched Kingsley step to the side near his trunk giving him a full view of the Death Eaters before him. _Thirty feet…why aren't they shooting?_

The door to his left disintegrated, blowing inward and showering the group with splinters. Harry swung his wand towards the first Death Eater to enter. "Petrificus Totalus!" The Death Eater's arms and legs snapped together, his own momentum causing him to loose balance and fall forward to the floor. Harry heard two pops in quick succession before the windows in the kitchen shattered spraying glass across the group. He heard a gasp from behind and turned to see Tonks gripping her right shoulder, a shard protruding from between her fingers. Blood soaked through her robe and dripped down her right arm. "Tonks!"

A red bolt flew from the doorway and struck her right leg, it buckled under the force and Harry heard it snap; she fell to the floor dazed but still conscious. Harry moved between her and the Death Eaters, another stunner heading towards them, "Protego!" The shield appeared before him, the stunner ricocheting off and towards another Death Eater. With Tonks injured behind him, Harry grabbed her hand and tried to pull her to her feet. She stumbled upwards, her right leg incapable of supporting any weight. She leaned against him for support as he fired off another series of spells against the advancing Death Eaters

"I don't know if I can apparate both of us," she said softly, pain seeping through her voice. "You should-"

"Tonks, Harry! Come on!" Mr. Weasley yelled across what had once been his kitchen. Harry quickly followed the voice towards Mr. Weasley and helped a half-stumbling, half-carried Tonks across the room. He aimed his wand over his shoulder, blind firing curses towards the Death Eaters when he heard the most dreaded words.

"Avada Kedavra!"

Harry immediately dropped to the floor bringing Tonks with him in hopes of dodging the curse. He expected to hear air rushing overhead accompanied by a green flash. What he didn't expect was a brilliant blue flash from his right and the sound of an explosion. His curiosity quickly bested his better judgment and turned to see what had happened. There was now a wall stretching across the kitchen, completely cutting off the Death Eaters from them. _This makes no sense…where did that come from…_he felt something tighten on his shoulder and briefly realized that it was a hand before feeling himself ripped through the fabric of space and time. He unconsciously tightened his grip on Tonks as the world blurred around him.

Something was pressed against his face, hard and cold though aside from that he couldn't tell what it was. There were sounds around him, excited voices speaking rapidly, using words he couldn't understand. He felt as if he was hearing it all through water, muffled and incomprehensible. There was a throbbing in his forehead, not a deep coursing pain he associated with Voldemort's attacks but a dull constant ache that seemed to throb with his every heartbeat. But the throbbing began to recede along with the water muffling his hearing. He could hear voices near him speaking quickly but couldn't make out who they were. Then he felt something move next to him, it was a body…_Tonks._

"Harry! Tonks! Are you okay?" Seran's voice broke through and rung in the air with clarity.

Harry pushed himself to sit upright and tried to clear his head. The fog lifted and he was able to make out the dimly lit interior of the Leaky Cauldron. He wasn't sure why there was a feeling of unease that had settled in his stomach until he remembered he had just apparated to London with two other people and last time he checked apparating was a one person transport with a two person max; at least that's what Hermione said. Suddenly that feeling of unease multiplied tenfold and he felt the need to vomit.

"Harry lie back down, you're not going to be feeling well for a few minutes," Mr. Weasley said from his left. Mr. Weasley then turned back to Tonks.

Harry eased back to the floor, his previous feeling of unease lessened and he turned to see Moody, Lupin, and Seran crouched over Tonks who appeared to be unconscious. "_Enervate,_" said Seran and her eyes fluttered open. She moved to sit up but immediately winced in pain.

"Don't move Tonks," Moody growled completely aware that they were drawing a crowd within the confines of the building.

"We should take her to St. Mungo's," Lupin said softly kneeling next to the injured Auror.

"No, not going to Mungo's. Lupin I'll rip out every hair you have one by one next full moon if you do," Tonks managed to finish her threat towards the werewolf before a fresh wave of pain swept across her face.

"Then I'm going to have to remove this before we can do anything," Lupin answered ignoring the threat.

"Do it."

Lupin reached towards the shard, hesitating just slightly before grabbing hold. He released it instantly, shaking his hand as if burned. Lupin turned to Moody with a look of bewilderment on his face.

"I've seen this before," Seran mumbles turning to Moody. "remember when you dodged that Killing Curse by jumping behind a desk and when you got hit by the shrapnel?"

A contemplative look fell over Moody's face as he recalled the incident but it was followed by a wave of realization. "Yeah," he replied unconsciously gripping his forearm. "Can't cauterize it can you?"

"Too many vital organs."

"We're going to St. Mungo's now!" Moody and Lupin reached towards Tonks, Lupin grabbing her right arm and Moody gripping her left, they immediately vanished. The room was silent save for the heavy breathing of all those in the room. Harry was beyond confused, why did the spell matter when it was a shard of glass? The spell obviously didn't hit her as she would have been dead…

"Wait a minute, what's going on?" Harry blurted out but his question remained unanswered as Seran stood silently. He turned to Mr. Weasley for answers but he was already speaking to Kingsley.

"-need to get out of here," Mr. Weasley began, cutting off the Auror. "Seran, I need you to inform Dumbledore what happened. Kingsley, I need you to head to the Ministry and explain what happened and deal with any matters that arise. Harry and I will head to St. Mungo's than we'll head back to base." Kingsley nodded before apparating away. "Harry, come with me, grab your stuff."

Harry nodded before grabbing one end of his trunk and gripping the top of Hedwig's cage. "I apologize for all this excitement," Tom merely nodded behind the countertop and gave them a dismissive wave. "You ready?" He only nodded.

Mr. Weasley grabbed his shoulder and for what was third time in one day, Harry felt himself being ripped through the fabric of space and time. It was comparable to traveling by floo, but without the uncomfortable dizzying sensation that filled his stomach when moving from hearth to hearth. He definitely liked this method more. It stopped just as abruptly as the floo network though he didn't have enough momentum to lose his balance.

They touched down in a large open field…there was nothing for miles except the endless grassy knolls that stretched as far as he could see. This was definitely _not_ St. Mungo's. "Alright you ready?" Mr. Weasley's voice sounded from next to him, calm as ever.

Once again he grabbed Harry's shoulder and making it a fourth time they blinked out of existence and appeared elsewhere on the planet. When Harry realized where they were, he was instantly smothered by a hug from Mrs. Weasley and catching only snippets of what she was actually saying, "So worried about you…could've been killed…house is okay, but…rotten Death Eaters…can't believe this-"

She was finally cut off when Mr. Weasley pulled her away (literally) and informed her that Tonks was injured and had been taken to St. Mungo's by Moody and Remus and asked her if she could take Harry's things to the house because they were on their way to St. Mungo's to check on her condition. She agreed hesitantly and cast a feather-light charm on the trunk and carried both over to the empty lot between Numbers 11 and 13 Grimmauld Place. He could see the two buildings being pushed out of the way by something massive, but he once again felt pressure on his shoulder and the world disappeared for what seemed to be the fifth time that day.

Commotion was the first thing he noticed. There was movement everywhere; people in green robes rushing in every direction, people in robes of every other color moved around the lobby of the Wizarding world's hospital: St. Mungo's. The two approached a desk manned by a rather plump witch. "A friend of ours was brought in today, we wanted to check on her."

"Patient's name?" the woman asked in a somewhat annoyed tone.

"Nymphadora Tonks."

"Hmm…she's out of critical condition and is recuperating. I must ask that you do not disturb her too much as she's still very ill, she's in Ward 43 on the fourth floor," Mr. Weasley thanked her and they walked towards one of the elevators. The doors closed and the elevator began traveling upward. After the second floor, Harry needed to ask the question.

"Why was she in critical condition? It was just a piece of glass?"

Mr. Weasley sighed, "Harry, have you heard of magical transference?" Harry shook his head. "Well, when there is an overly emotional spell, like all the Unforgivable Curses, things such as magical transference can occur. I'm sure you know what spell that was that hit the glass."

"Avada Kedavra."

"Exactly, now when any normal spell strikes an object, it dissipates and releases energy. When you have a spell that requires that much emotion to cast, when the spell dissipates, some of the spell is actually left on the object that it strikes and the object may contain certain aspects of that spell."

"So that's why Lupin couldn't touch it."

"Yes, hopefully that piece of glass didn't absorb too much of the curse though." Mr. Weasley said solemnly. The elevator chimed and the two doors slid open. Harry and Mr. Weasley stepped onto the fourth floor, an ominous sign on the wall displaying "Spell Damage" which gave Harry a curious feeling before Mr. Weasley led him away and they began searching for the room number specified by the receptionist.

As they turned a corner in what seemed to be the never ending hallway, they noticed a familiar face: Moody. As they stepped closer Moody's eye snapped towards their direction and in a gruff voice, "Password."

Harry skidded to a stop…_Password? I don't know a password…_

"S'more."

Moody merely nodded and they continued. Mr. Weasley leaned closer to Harry, "Dumbledore picked it out, you can always identify yourself by his office password though." Harry nodded. "How's she doing?"

"Remus I'm going to kill you! You think I was joking? Next full moon, I swear, every hair!"

The door Moody had posted himself next to burst open and shut in under a second. Lupin stood panting against the opposite wall looking very pale. "D'you think she'd do it?"

"It _is_ Tonks," Moody replied, grinning as the werewolf gulped loudly. "You had her best intentions in mind so I think she'll let you live."

"I take it she's okay?" Mr. Weasley asked moving the topic away from Lupin's impending scalping.

"She's fine, the medi-wizards removed the shard in no time and patched her up in under five minutes, the thing is, it left a rather nasty scar," Lupin informed the latecomers while gingerly rubbing a now bandaged right hand.

"But won't she just be able to change it? She is a metamorphmagus," Harry wondered aloud.

"Some things just can't be changed boy," Moody answered still not having moved from his spot. "When it comes to transference with that curse, you never really know…"

"When can she leave?" Mr. Weasley asked.

"The medi-wizards want to keep her overnight then she's free to go. We already talked to Dumbledore and he said that he'll probably have her stay at Grimmauld Place for a week or two before she returns to duty-"

"But I'm fine!" a muffled female voice came through the door cutting off Moody's monologue.

"You're lucky you're not dead now get back in bed," Moody growled to the door. "Why don't you two head inside, see if you can calm her down."

_Yeah, right…_

The door swung open and Harry, followed by Mr. Weasley filed through the door way. The room looked remarkably like the one they had visited Mr. Weasley in the year before and if Harry hadn't remembered it was on a different floor he would have sworn it was the same room. Harry noticed that this room didn't have any other patients however, only Tonks in the far bed wearing a hospital gown with a rather noticeable bulge on her right shoulder.

"Wotcher Harry, Arthur," she yelled with her usual exuberance.

"I take it you were listening through the door?" Mr. Weasley questioned in a semi-serious tone.

"Well…sort of," replied Tonks grinning. Harry wasn't quite sure what she meant until he saw something flesh colored dangling from the side of the bed…_Extendable Ears…_She winked as he saw her pull the remaining portion underneath the covers. Mr. Weasley didn't notice.

"Well it doesn't matter anyway, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, but I don't feel like spending two week cooped up at Grimmauld Place…no offence Harry," she added.

"None taken."

"I understand your feelings Tonks, but after what you went through it's the responsible thing to do. We don't want you out in the field if this could compromise your ability to do your job safely," Mr. Weasley insisted.

"But-"

The door opened and Seran walked briskly into the room. Harry's hand released his wand but hovered nearby, something he didn't even remember doing but was also unsure of why he didn't feel right. _There's something odd about this guy…_

"Dumbledore's called a meeting of the Order in three days at...Snuffles' House. Aside from that we are to sit tight," his voice never grew beyond a whisper yet was heard by everyone in the room. Mr. Weasley nodded and left the room. "He also said that you are off Order duties for-"

"Two weeks, yeah I know," Tonks pouted.

"It's for your own good you know," Seran tried to save face.

"Well maybe what's best for me isn't up to him."

_That sounds familiar…_thought Harry staying to the sidelines as the two went at it. It continued for nearly ten minutes before one of them (Seran) got fed up and left the room leaving only Harry and Tonks. He heard a soft sigh before a timid voice.

"Harry…can I talk to you for a minute…over here?"

"Uhh, sure," he stood walking towards her bedside.

"I wanted to…I needed to ask you why…why didn't you just save yourself?" her voice faltered slightly and he could see the question repeating itself in her eyes.

"What do you mean?" _Why wouldn't I try to help her?_

She fidgeted slightly, "There had to be thirty Death Eaters there, you could have left but you protected me…"

There was a hidden pain within her voice, like what she was saying was what should have happened…_She expected me to leave. She thinks it's her fault I risked my neck._ "You're my friend; I'd do that for any of my friends."

He saw something flicker through her eyes…_understanding?…_before she pulled him into a hug. "Thank you," she whispered to his ear before releasing him and gingerly lying back onto the bed. She slipped into a deep sleep nearly as soon as she touched the pillow.

Harry stood dumbfounded for a moment before turning to see Lupin standing near the doorway. With a simple gesture, Harry followed the werewolf to the door and noticed that Moody and Seran were still guarding the room. He chanced a look back to Tonks, now sleeping silently. When Harry had cleared the door, Seran stepped past him and entered the room, the door clicking softly behind him.

Harry followed Lupin down the deserted hallways of St. Mungo's before he finally let his thoughts be heard.

"What do you know about Cleir?"

Lupin stopped walking, now staring at Harry with a curious expression on his face, "What do you mean?"

"Can we trust him?"

"Dumbledore trusts him."

"Dumbledore trusted Moody and we found out he was Crouch."

Lupin sighed, "Seran was in the Order during the first war when he was an Auror. Harry, what's this all about?"

"I don't know…something about him is weird…"

"Maybe you're just worried about Tonks," Harry turned towards Lupin out of curiosity, but immediately knew where he was going when he saw that grin. "I saw the way you two were looking at each other."

"Shut up Lupin," Harry's voice low, "You don't know what it was."

"Oh? Then what _was _it then?"

"She…thanked me for staying with her, you know, in the Burrow," Harry turned to Lupin to make sure he understood this. "I think she thought I was going to leave her."

Lupin's brow furrowed slightly at the spoken words, "Harry, there's something you should about Tonks…I just don't think I should be the one to tell you." He paused for a moment looking directly into Harry's eyes before continuing, "Something happened when she first became an Auror, someone she…well, like I said, it isn't my place."

Lupin turned and continued down the hallway with Harry in tow, effectively ending the conversation. Harry glanced over his shoulder down the hallway; he could tell that the only person he could hear this from was Tonks herself.

They left the building, making a quick turn down a nearby alley. Harry felt a hand on his shoulder and once again watched as the world blurred around him before he and Lupin winked out of existence and appeared somewhere else.

_I guess that makes six._


	2. The Order

**Shadows of War**

**The Order**

When the world came back into view, the scattered garbage and overflowing dumpsters were replaced by the long, slow arcing row of houses that made up Grimmauld Place. They made their way down the line of houses in silence. Harry noticed that just as before there was no light coming from any house on the street. The only light cast on the dimly lit street was that which came from the pale crescent moon overhead. The only notion of the time was that it was well-past midnight.

They came to the point between numbers eleven and thirteen and just as it had before, the two houses were forced aside to make way for the concealed building between them. As they walked forward, Harry could see a doorway appear with a number twelve emblazoned on the center. Lupin opened the door, glancing around the neighborhood before following Harry through the door.

As soon as Harry made it across the foyer and crossed the threshold into the living room he was accosted by Mrs. Weasley, fussing over him and the danger he was put in. After a few minutes of convincing from her husband, Mrs. Weasley finally let Harry breathe and returned to the kitchen.

With the departure of the Weasley matriarch, Harry was then able to see the two teenagers standing in the next room: Ron and Hermione. Trying to come up with a somewhat witty remark and failing miserably he decided to settle with, "Hi."

"Hi Harry!"

"Heya mate, heard you had some trouble on the way over," Ron remarked walking towards Harry and clapping him on the back.

"Yeah," Harry winced stretching his shoulder. "Sorry about your kitchen."

"No worries, though mum threw a fit after she found out there were Death Eaters there, but she's just glad you're okay," Ron answered with his trademark grin in place. "So, whatcha been up to other than trouble, and don't think you can leave out the Burrow 'cause I want the full story!"

Harry sighed and informed his two best friends what had happened. He told them how he was ignored by the Durseleys until the Order showed up. He also mentioned Cleir and that he was Hogwarts' new Defense Against the Dark Arts instructor. Hermione is delighted by the idea that she'll be able to question the new teacher before class starts.

"He might be our new DADA teacher, but something doesn't feel right about him."

"You mean like Umbridge?" Hermione ventured cautiously knowing Harry's distaste of their last "teacher".

"No, he doesn't seem like a Ministry git, but I'm not sure what it is," Harry's confusion still left him wondering what was going on.

"Have you told anyone?"

"I told Lupin, but he thought I was being paranoid."

"Alright we can talk about this later, what happened at the Burrow," Ron interrupted their musings and Hermione gave him a glare comparable to Dumbledore. Harry grinned slightly at his two friends usual antics.

Harry moved on to what occurred at the Burrow. Once he began explaining the situation that occurred he remembered the wall that suddenly split the kitchen in two, and quickly asked Hermione if she had ever heard of such a spell to which she replied she hadn't.

"Whoa, we found a spell that Hermione _doesn't_ know," Ron let out a loud exclamation causing Hermione's face to turn a deep red before quickly leaving the room. "Did I say something?"

Harry smirked at his friend's ignorance, "She probably just went to find out what spell it was."

"Harry, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Harry turned slightly, his gaze coming to rest on the aged features of Albus Dumbledore. He felt something build up within him, but merely forced it aside and grudgingly followed the Headmaster from the room. The aged wizard led him down a long set of stairs which terminated at a single door. Dumbledore pushed the door open and stepped inside. Harry's intrinsic curiosity pushed him through the doorway and into the dimly lit basement.

If this room was anything, it was large and dark. Aside from that Harry couldn't make anything out save for the four wizards surrounding a brilliant orange flame in the center of the room. The faces of Albus Dumbledore, Arthur Weasley, Alastor Moody, and Remus Lupin were lit from the unearthly glow from the small torch in the center of the room.

"Harry," Dumbledore began, "We have decided to offer you membership into the Order of the Phoenix. Now it would be a full membership but as you have not graduated from Hogwarts as of yet, you will not be involved in any mission the Order is sent on-"

"So what is it then?" Harry cut in, "What's the point of not being around to help when I have to face Voldemort in the end?"

"The point, Harry, is full disclosure," Dumbledore replied, trademark twinkle in full effect. "You may not be able to go on missions but you will know everything the Order is doing during this war. We will – I will not be keeping any information from you. We all know where that led…"

Harry nodded solemnly, "What do I have to do?"

At his words, Lupin stepped forward holding the small torch that had been in the center of the group. "Place you hand over this."

Harry looked from the flame to Lupin's face, who nodded slightly, and Harry placed his hand over the flame…_why's it cold?_

"I, your name, swear to assist the Order of the Phoenix during these dark times so that the shadows of war that threaten our way shall be lifted."

Upon finished the oath, Harry could see that every wizard in the room had their wand out. Harry was about to draw his own before Lupin shook his head, "This is part of the oath."

At that he felt the tip of a wand touch the hand that was still over the flame. He looked to the owner of the wand and Lupin merely grinned. "I, Remus Lupin, as member of the Order of the Phoenix accept the oath given by Harry Potter. May he join our ranks and assist our cause."

Mr. Weasley stepped forward and tapped Harry's hand with his own wand. "I, Arthur Weasley, as member of the Order…" It continued until once again as Moody stepped forward and repeated the same words. It was when Moody finished that Dumbledore stepped forward.

"I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, as member of the Order of the Phoenix, accept the oath given by Harry Potter. May he join our ranks and assist our cause. _Signum!_" With one final tap, the flames rushed upward and enveloped Harry's hand. They centered on a spot slightly above his wrist on the top of his hand. It was there the flames formed a feather of golden hue before dissipating completely. The flames beneath his hand were extinguished as well plunging the room into near darkness.

There were four other golden feathers floating in the black. Harry was mesmerized as the closest rose and slid horizontally. A resounding clap filled the darkened basement and torches on the walls suddenly sputtered to life bathing the room in flickering light.

"Welcome to the Order of the Phoenix."

- - - - -

"So what was so important last night that you needed to the basement with half the Order?" Ron asked while his knight pummeled Harry's rook senseless.

"Oh, Dumbledore wanted a full account of what happened at the Burrow," Harry lied quickly, knowing full well that he couldn't tell Ron about being admitted to the Order within hearing range of Mrs. Weasley.

"Did you ask him about the wall?"

Harry's mind started…_I should have asked him come to think of it…_ "I'll tell you later."

Ron nodded absentmindedly as Harry took to studying the chessboard.

Three hours and five games later (Ron with an impressive 5-0 win-loss record) Hermione finally appeared at one end of the table with an impressive stack of books. Neither noticed her until the books slammed onto the table next to Harry and actually caused a temporary truce to break out amongst a few of the pieces who grabbed onto each other for dear life. Harry cast a questioning look her way but was surprised to see deep rings underneath her eyes and her hair more than a little disheveled.

"Hermione, what's all of this?"

"Can't talk, reading," she replied briskly grabbing a book and burying herself in it. Harry cast a quick glance towards Ron who shrugged.

"Is it about that spell?" Harry asked nervously and knew he was right when she slammed the book shut, gave an indignant "hmph!" and leaned backwards into her chair with her arms crossed against her chest. "It doesn't make any sense! I spent all night looking through defensive and transfiguration books and there isn't a spell that creates a wall like that. It just doesn't exist!"

"I didn't lie."

"I didn't say you did, I just said that whatever you saw wasn't a shielding spell. Look at this," she flipped open a book and spun it around so he could see. He watched as a wizard twisted his wand and mouthed the word "_Protego!_" before a translucent shield appeared before him. The image reset and the process began anew. Harry flipped through the book to see various wizards casting spells. They were always casting shielding spells and every one was a translucent shape before them. "I believe you, it just wasn't a shielding charm and it wasn't any form of transfiguration that I know of. It might be some kind of magic we've never heard of."

"But how's that possible?" Ron blurted out, unable to contain himself anymore. "We all know that Death Eaters are stupid gits but even they know not to save our butts."

"Well obviously-" Hermione began but was cut off as Ron continued.

"So the only option is that someone on our side did it and…who were you with again?"

"Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Cleir, Kingsley and your Dad."

"So it was one of them."

"But Lupin and Kingsley had already apparated," Hermione interjected.

"So that leaves Tonks, Moody, Cleir, and my dad," Ron thought aloud. "Well it couldn't have been my dad; he never was that good at DADA."

"And it couldn't have been Tonks because she was too injured to apparate, I doubt she could've made a wall out of thing air," Harry added remembering how he had carried the wounded Auror across the kitchen under fire.

"So we're down to Moody and Cleir…I wouldn't be to surprised if Moody had a few tricks up his sleeve that we don't know about," Ron paused in thought.

"Remember the Department of Mysteries?" Hermione ignored Harry's grumbled "How could we forget?" and continued. "Moody got hit pretty fast from what I heard. He may have been the top Auror but he is a little old," Hermione turned to Harry who nodded in agreement. "Someone who is that powerful most likely wouldn't get knocked out of a fight that fast."

"So our lead suspect is Cleir," Harry mumbled bitterly.

"Geez mate, you're really got it out for this guy."

"No, it's just…something…"

- - - - -

It wasn't until noon that Tonks arrived escorted by Lupin and it wasn't even twelve-fifteen when she was banished from the kitchen by a very angry, broth covered Molly Weasley. Harry had given up against Ron when he reached an unprecedented low of nine games lost in one day. Ginny had apparently decided that she would take it upon herself to avenge Harry's honor and was currently losing spectacularly to her older brother as well.

The only thing that had actually ceased the onslaught was Fred and George's ability to make something that looked like butterbeer, smelled like butterbeer, and tasted like butterbeer…but wasn't a butterbeer. So it was much to everyone's surprise when Ron's body began to inflate and float towards the roof. He bounced across the ceiling for nearly five minutes before he began to deflate and sink back to the floor.

"Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnessed the newest of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes: Bubblebeer!" Fred exclaimed from the stairs with a grin that made him look too much like a used car sales man. "Looks, smells, and tastes just like butterbeer, but is guaranteed to inflate anybody-"

"Including your aunt-"

"To the twice their size! So act now before-" Fred's speech cut of abruptly as Ron tackled him to the floor with the bottle of bubblebeer still gripped in his hand and in the midst of trying to get the twins to drink their concoction there was a shout that stopped all motion.

"Ronald Weasley! How dare you start a fight with your brothers!" Mrs. Weasley was standing in the doorway to the kitchen with a glare that could have made Dumbledore wither. She came striding across the room exuding an aura that made everyone in the room back away as many usually do when the Weasley matriarch was on a war path. She grabbed Ron by the back of his shirt and with no effort had pried to the teenager away from his twin brothers. "And what is that?"

Ron stirred from his stupor but only managed to mumble incoherently. Mrs. Weasley quickly wrest the bottle from his hand and sniffed the drink. She took a small sip and Harry could see that even in this predicament, Ron and the twins began to grin manically.

"Butterbeer? You got like this over a butterbeer?" Her rage kept her from noticing the grins on her sons faces. "I don't want you _ever_ drinking these again!" She turned and strode from her three sons her face still red from whole ordeal.

She barely made it halfway across the room before she began to inflate as well. As her feet left the floor the house began to ring with her screams toward Fred and George. The twins knew, however that since their mother hadn't consumed too much of the drink the effect wouldn't last that long so they decided the best course of action would be to make a hasty retreat…

It was two days later when Mrs. Weasley hit the roof once more, although this time in less of the literal sense and more of the figurative sense of the phrase. The day wasn't that bad, the twins had disappeared for fear of retribution of the now infamous bubblebeer incident. Harry and Ron had once again taken to sharpening their tactical abilities by playing countless games of Wizard's Chess. Hermione was occupying a large chair before the fireplace and had an even larger stack of books near here. The closest thing that Ron or Harry could determine was the idea that she had taken personal offence to not being able to figure out the mystery spell and was now determined to find it. Ginny had actually disappeared into the kitchen with her mother before ten in the morning and curiosity had piqued in Harry as to what they were up to when she finally emerged, crossed the room to where Hermione was reading, whispered something, and the two girls returned to the kitchen. Harry tried to push his mind from wondering what was going on but to no avail.

He did manage to figure out what was going on when Mrs. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione emerged from the kitchen holding an extremely oversized birthday cake. This surprised Harry but not nearly as much as the deafening shouts of "Happy Birthday Harry!" that came from over his shoulder. He turned and grinned when he saw Lupin, Tonks, Moody, Mr. Weasley, Bill, and Charlie standing at the foot of the stairs. Using the distraction, Mrs. Weasley plopped the cake down on the table between Harry and her youngest son, who was now eyeing the cake with and hungry look that Harry knew so well.

"Happy birthday mate, now hurry up and blow out the candles I'm starving."

"Well, with that said, I think I'll take my time," Harry smirked at his friend over the cake. "Hmm…what to do, what to do…"

"Just blow out the candles before Ron does it for you," Lupin joked from behind him.

It took under four minutes for Ron to ask for seconds and the party continued from there. Grimmauld Place

The party continued until eight o'clock when members of the Order began to arrive for the meeting scheduled that night. It was less than a minute after the members began to arrive that Mrs. Weasley began to remove the teenagers from the room. For what it was worth, Ron put up a fairly good fight but knew in the end that both he, his sister and Hermione were going to end up upstairs hoping to hear some information through a couple pairs of Extendable Ears that Harry was sure the twins had given them for exactly that purpose. It was when Mrs. Weasley threatened to take away Ron's broom that the youngest Weasley male finally relented. As he stood, he turned to Harry, "Come on mate."

Harry grinned, _here goes nothing,_ "I think I'll stay down here for a while."

Dumbledore returned Harry's grin, "I think Harry should remain down here as well."

"It'd be a breach in security, he isn't in the Order!" Snape sneered from the doorway.

Harry regarded the potion's master for a moment before raising his right hand, _this should shut him up._ A collective gasp ran through the room, most noticeably from Mrs. Weasley.

"But he can't, he just turned sixteen. He hasn't even graduated, he's just a child!"

"A child of age yes, but of mind, no," Dumbledore's voice flowed over the assembled Order. "Not one person here, including myself, has done what Harry has done. He has faced Voldemort and emerged alive on five separate occasions. He has faced challenges more fearsome than most wizards face in their lifetime. It is because of this and my recognition of my own errors that I, as well as Remus, Arthur, and Alastor extended an invitation to Harry," everyone noticed the glare Mrs. Weasley directed towards her husband who was conveniently studying the wall opposite the room.

"I would also like," Dumbledore continued, making no comment of Mrs. Weasley's actions, "to extend invitations to those few others who accompanied Harry into the Department of Mysteries, but as your parents still have full custody over your well-being the question must be directed to your legal guardians," at this point Dumbledore turned to Mr. Weasley and his extremely flustered wife.

"I already have four children in the Order," she began softly before pointing to Ginny and Ron, "they aren't old enough to be in the Order-"

"Of their own accord," Mr. Weasley stepped in, "but they are old enough to know what's going on."

Dumbledore nodded in agreement and with a slight flick of his wrist, chairs appeared behind the two youngest Weasleys as well as Hermione. She gave him a confused look before the head master must have realized that he hadn't informed her of what was going on.

"Wouldn't you care to take a seat Ms. Granger, I have already discussed this matter with your parents and even though they disapprove of you doing anything dangerous," Dumbledore grinned as his student flushed and looked away, "they realize that they wouldn't be able to stop you from knowing what's going on."

It was during this that Harry noticed Cleir standing just beyond the doorway conversing with Lupin. They were too far away to make out what was being said, but it didn't stop Harry from trying…until something slammed into his back.

"Mate, I don't know what you did, but I never thought I'd be down here for a meeting, this is great!" Ron nearly hugged him before he came to his senses, then he noticed the look on Harry's face. "That who I think it is?"

Harry nodded.

"Huh, I thought he would have been…darker."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know, he just…doesn't look like a bad guy to me."

Harry was about to respond when Dumbledore called the meeting to order.


	3. Schedules and Classes

**Shadows of War**

**Schedules and Classes**

Snape had spent nearly half-an-hour discussing what had happened at Death Eater central and none of it was relevant to anything. The only real part worth mentioning was Voldemort hadn't ordered the attack at the Burrow. Apparently a few overzealous higher-ups got bored and figured that going after him would be a good idea. As it turned out, one of them was killed on the spot by Voldemort to serve as a warning to the others and the remaining Death Eaters had been placed under the Cruciatus curse for extended periods of time. After that there was a brief mention of something called Hestegonne but it only seemed to mean something to Dumbledore. After that, here was a brief discussion concerning assignments and prior to the assignment of new ones.

It was then that Dumbledore introduced the group to Seran Cleir as Hogwarts new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, quickly earning him a condemning glare from Snape. Dumbledore also added that he had been in the Order during the first war with Voldemort which earned him a few nods of approval from those other than Snape.

With that, Dumbledore called the meeting to end and members began to rise from the table. It was then that Dumbledore called to Harry.

"I wanted to explain something to you about the mark on your hand," Dumbledore began, his twinkling eyes glancing around the room to see that they were alone. "That is Signum of the Phoenix. That seal represents that you are a member of the Order and is only visible to members of the Order."

Harry had already realized the first half, but the latter took him by surprise. He quickly took stock of the room and noticed that everyone who was a member of the Order had that Signum on their right hand. Watching the youth look around the room, Dumbledore decided to continue.

"That Signum also acts as a form of communication between the Order. You merely tap it and think the name of the person you wish to speak to. Now before you ask, it is a form of the legimens spell, you are merely transmitting the thought of what you wish to say to the other person. Now I wonder if there is any more cake," and Dumbledore strode off in the direction of the kitchen…

- - - - -

"That had to be the most boring two hours in my life!" Ron exclaimed as he collapsed on his bed.

"It wasn't that bad," Hermione responded. Harry smirked, he had noticed that even she, Miss. Stay-awake-through-the-most-boring-lecture-from-Binns had almost fallen asleep through the Order's meeting. And Harry didn't blame them.

"Hermione, it was that bad," Harry called from the doorway. "The only thing I got out of it was that Voldemort didn't order the Death Eaters after me and that doesn't help anything."

Hermione sighed, realizing defeat. Then immediately, something replaced the look of defeat and it was something that both Harry and Ron knew too well: curiousity. "So that was Cleir."

"Yeah, that was him," Harry answered in a slightly annoyed fashion, he already knew where this was going.

"Do you think he's any good? At teaching, I mean?" she asked hopefully.

"I dunno, I've only talked to him once."

"Oh."

The sound of Ron's sigh broke through the silence, "Hey Harry, any thoughts on Quidditch for this year?"

That caught him off guard, _I hadn't thought about Quidditch at all, not since Umbridge._ "You think that they would have lifted the ban?"

"It was in the _Prophet _last week, they lifted all the Ministry's Educational Decrees and that included your ban," Hermione said, well aware of the obvious change of subject.

"So I can play again?" Hermione nodded, "Oh my Go- this is gr- I can't beli- are you serious?" She nodded again, this time with Ron. "Yes! This is bloody great! I mean seriously this is…but we don't have a team."

"We'll figure it out mate, believe me, we'll get this figured out."

- - - - -

After realizing that Umbridge's legacy had been put to sleep, summer began to fly by. Harry and Ron spent hours developing new moves and strategies to put into play once they returned to school. It was rather difficult since they only knew for a fact that they had two Chasers, a Keeper and a Seeker. Despite the finale of last years game, both Harry and Ron were unsure of whether Kirke and Sloper could cut it as Beaters and they were still a Chaser shy of a full team.

Hermione had once again sealed herself within the library, this time researching potions that could create something to grow to an immense size but quickly. She found one but was quickly shot down when Harry pointed out that it was a wall made of the same material the floor was made of and not made out of Devil's Snare. She quickly returned to the library while muttering under her breath, "Shouldn't exist," and "Why can't I figure this out," and Harry was sure he heard her curse.

Life was great until the sixth of August when three large envelopes addressed to Harry, Hermione, and Ron appeared on the table flanked by a significantly smaller one addressed to Ginny. Hermione immediately began to hyperventilate, quickly recalling everything she could about the OWL exams at the end of last year and immediately questioning both Harry and Ron about the proper way to brew that neither could remember and if there was any possibility that she might have misspelled flobberworm on her Care of Magical Creatures exam.

"Just open the letter already and find out!" Ron exclaimed after being questioned for the third time about the proper sequence of adding ingredients.

She turned to the letter and the most grueling staring match Harry and Ron had ever seen commenced before she finally pulled up the courage, crossed the gap, and ripped open the letter. Silence, then, "I got twelve!"

"You got a perfect score?"

"Almost," she replied rather dejected, "I got an 'E' in Astronomy; they couldn't _actually_ expect us to concentrate through that." She then picked up another envelope, read the label, and tossed it to Harry.

Harry took a deep breath before ripping open the envelope.

_Mr. Harry Potter,_

_ Below are your Ordinary Wizarding Level results turned into by the examiners during the course of last years school semester. The results are split into both Theory and Practical and the final score for that course is the average between the two scores._

_Course  
_

_Care of Magical Creatures_

_Theory: E / Practical: E / Overall: E_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts_

_Theory: O / Practical: O / Overall: O__  
_

_Divination_

_Theory: N/A / Practical: P / Overall: P__  
_

_History of Magic_

_Theory: A / Practical: N/A / Overall: A__  
_

_Potions_

_Theory: E / Practical: O / Overall: O__  
_

_Transfiguration  
_

_Theory: E / Practical: E / Overall: E__  
_

"I got ten, I can' believe I managed to get an 'O' in potions," Harry was dumbfounded, he knew that he did better without Snape glaring over his shoulder but he didn't realize that he had done _that_ much better. He heard a rustling of papers to his right and glanced over at Ron who was staring blankly at his results. "What did you get?"

Silence.

"Come on, it can't be that bad," Hermione added.

"I got eight, Potions killed me," Ron muttered, his gaze never leaving the parchment. "I probably would have done better if I hadn't even shown up. How could they honestly have expected us to learn from Snape?"

"Well you could have studied more," Hermione mumbled.

"Pardon me for not being able keeping up with your study habits."

"Why should I be sorry if I take my classes seriously-"

Harry merely gave a absentminded nod and went back to flipping through the remaining papers. The next sheet was his acceptance letter to Hogwarts. He skimmed through it, noticing that he had to choose which classes to take now that he had his OWL results. Flipping to the next page he found a class list.

_Classes available to sixth year students:_

_Alchemy_

_Ancient Runes (NEWT level avaiable)  
_

_Arithmancy__ (NEWT level avaiable)_

_Care of Magical Creatures__ (NEWT level avaiable)_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts__ (NEWT level avaiable)_

_Divination__ (NEWT level avaiable)_

_Healing_

_History of Magic__ (NEWT level avaiable)_

_Potions__ (NEWT level avaiable)_

_Transfiguration__ (NEWT level avaiable)_

But despite the choices, the first was the one that drew his attention: Alchemy. _I've heard that term before, but where?_ "Hermione, what's Alchemy?"

"Why do you ask?"

"Because its on the class list."

"You're kidding!" ceasefire commended as she quickly ruffled through her papers before finding the class list. She looked like a child on Christmas morning. "They're offering Alchemy, I can't believe it…how did they find a teacher? I've _always_ wanted to learn Alchemy!"

"You still haven't answered the question," Ron pointed out, now that he and Harry were staring at Hermione curiously.

"Alchemy is science based on the composition of matter," she stated, as if reciting it from a book. The two boys looked at her expectantly, but when she continued reading they knew they'd have to push her for information.

"And…anything else?" Ron ventured as Harry noticed a fourth sheet of paper.

_Dear Harry_

_ I regret that I am unable to ask this of you in person as I am currently being held at the Wizengamot over matters of trivial importance. As you are reading this letter then you have no doubt received your OWL results, your Hogwarts letter, and your class list. I hope that you can bear the request of an old man and that you enroll in Alchemy during your sixth and seventh year. I feel that your understanding of this skill would greatly increase your abilities against Lord Voldemort when you one day must face him. _

_ Now must also inform you that Sirius' will, which names you as a beneficiary, must be held in trust until the time of your seventeenth birthday when you are of age to receive what you are entitled to. I must once again impress my apologies for the events of last year._

_Sincerely, _

_Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore _

"What is it, mate?"

"Dumbledore wants me to take Alchemy," Harry responded, his mind still deciding whether or not to trust the aged wizard.

"Well are you?" Ron asked.

"Of course he is," Hermione countered turning back to Harry. "Aren't you?"

"I don't even know what Alchemy is."

"Well why did he ask you to take it?"

"It said something about how it could be useful against Voldemort," Ron winced but Harry ignored him…

- - - - -

"Now as you are all aware, the school year at Hogwarts will begin next week, so our meetings will become more…sporadic. Unfortunately for our younger members," Dumbledore spoke, eyeing Harry, "you will be unable to attend the meetings but we will keep you abreast in what is going on."

"And how do you plan on keeping us informed?" Harry asked, feeling as though he's once again being cut off from information he's entitled to know.

"To be truthful, I'm not quite sure," Dumbledore answered sinking into his chair. "We can't use owls since, as you know, they can be intercepted. We can't use the Floo network as it is monitored by the Ministry and Voldemort most likely has spies in place to keep track of that. So we may end up having to resort to a hand carried method. Don't worry Harry, I do not wish for a repeat of last year."

The last part was barely a whisper and Harry was sure no one else heard the headmaster.

"On that note, we will adjourn for tonight," Dumbledore spoke solemnly before rising from the table.

The others followed suit and the room quickly emptied with barely a word, leaving Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny in the all encompassing silence. Footsteps faded away and the only sound to break the silence was a sigh escaping from Hermione.

"I know what you're going to say," Harry's voice broke the atmosphere.

It didn't stop her.

"They aren't going to leave you out on purpose Harry, they don't want it to happen again."

Something snapped. Constant suppression of pain, anger, torment, constant what-if scenarios all came to the forefront. "'It'?" his voice was low, dangerously low, barely above a growl. "Only an 'it'? Sirius is dead and all that he gets is an 'it'?"

"Harry, mate, she didn't mean it-"

"How the hell would you know what she meant? A man is dead because of what I did," he raised a hand to stop her from interrupting. "Now I know it wasn't all my fault, some of it was, a lot of it was Dumbledore's fault so I know it wasn't all me. But if I hadn't been there, neither would had Sirius."

"Sirius made his own choices, just like we did when we followed you there," it was Ginny this time.

"You guys must really think I'm stupid to be saying things like that. Of course I know it was his choice but just because it was his choice doesn't mean that I wasn't still partly responsible. He…" his voice faltered, hanging his head, "He was the closest thing I had to a family and he's gone." He slowly lifted his head. He noticed both Ginny and Hermione were taken aback and even Ron looked a little lost. "I never even really knew him."

"You knew him better than most."

The group spun to see Tonks standing near the kitchen. She silently crossed the room, some how devoid of her usually clumsy self, and took a seat near the table. "I barely knew him and he was my Uncle. I saw him every so often at family gatherings, but aside from that, nothing. The only person who might have known him better than you is Remus."

Harry nodded slightly.

"I wasn't here to listen in on your conversation though; Dumbledore has a way to keep you informed."

This caught Harry's attention. "But he just said he didn't have any ideas."

"It wasn't Dumbledore's idea; it was Seran's," Harry groaned, "What's wrong with Seran?"

"Harry's got a bad feeling from him," Ron interjected.

"Bad vibe, how?" Tonks inquired.

Harry sighed, "Just…a bad feeling."

"Hmm…I'll have to keep an eye on him," Harry gave her a disbelieving look, _someone is actually taking me seriously?_ She must have seen his look because she gave him a reassuring smile. "Always trust you instincts, it's one of the first things they tell you during Auror training. But anyway," she turned back to the others, "I'm your new contact."

Silence.

"What? Did that come out wrong?"

"No, it's just…" Ron seemed to be struggling for the right words, "how are you going to be our contact, you kind of stand out."

"And it would create too many questions if you show up at school unless…" Hermione trailed off, the rest of them waited for the signal that Hermione had solved the problem and it came right on cue. "That's brilliant! It would work perfectly."

Tonks nodded and Ron was dumbfounded. "What would work perfectly?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "She'll pose as a student so she doesn't draw any attention."

"But she's too big for a first year," Ron continued.

"A transfer student," Tonks answered.

"But you kind of stick out," Ron once again, stated the obvious. Tonks tossed him an annoyed look before her green hair faded to an unobtrusive dark brown. "Oh yeah, forgot about that."

"So if they can get you information and you're in the school why can't we get it directly?" Harry questioned cynically.

"Because I'm an Auror. We have…alternative methods of communicating that aren't easily traceable," she gave him a knowing smile. "Besides, if anything big happens you've still got the Signum." Harry's eyes flew to the back of his right hand where the golden emblem still resided. The other three students stared at him out of curiosity.

"Hey wait, what's the signal?"

"Signum, it's the mark of the Order," Tonks replied.

"Why didn't we get one?"

"Because you didn't swear an oath to fight against Voldemort until he's dead or you are. You still have a choice," Harry's hardened gaze met theirs, "keep it that way."

"You know we'll stand beside you no matter what," this came from Ginny, who now had tears rimming her eyes. "But you already beat You-Know-Who five times, it doesn't have to be you!"

"Yes it does."

"No, Harry it doesn't," this time it was Hermione. "Everyone knows that Dumbledore is the one that Voldemort has always feared. There's nothing saying that you have to fight him."

"Yes," Harry began in a tone that carried a threat not to question it. "Yes, it does have to be me. You just don't know why."

"Then why Harry," Ron now, "inform the rest of us _why_ it _has_ to be you."

"The Department of Mysteries," Harry knew those words would quiet the three of them and silence once again consumed the room. "You all remember it; the Prophecy says that I must face Voldemort."

"You heard the Prophecy?" this time it was Tonks.

"Dumbledore told me, after…"

"How did Dumbledore know?" Hermione again.

"Because it was told to Dumbledore in the first place, what was in the Department of Mysteries was just a record of it," Harry sighed, dropping back into a chair, realizing that this conversation wasn't going to end until he told them at least part of it. "The prophecy said that I have to face him and that one of us will kill the other."

Silence consumed the room for the umpteenth time that night. Ron sunk into a chair and his face fell into his hands. Tonks seemed like she had been hit by a truck. Both Hermione and Ginny looked as if they'd be sick. Harry leaned back into his chair and let the silence continue. Ginny sniffled and gave Harry a look with too many mixed emotions to even bother figuring out before she lowered her head to the table. Harry looked to all four of them and it was finally Ron who broke the silence. "Why didn't you tell us earlier?"

"Because I'm still trying to come to grips with the fact that I'm either going to be a murderer, or I'm going to be murdered."

Harry's harsh reply caused silence to once again envelope the room. He glanced towards the clock standing near the stairs: 11:26. Pushing his chair away from the table he walked towards the stairs. The silence continued as he left the room and ascended the stairs and entered his bedroom.

Collapsing on the bed, he lay with his eyes blankly gazing upon the dimly lit ceiling. His eyes had adjusted to the point where he could just barely make out the cracks running through the aged wood when his near catatonic brain registered the door opening and closing. Rustling of sheets followed as Ron got into bed at the other side of the room. The silence continued and Harry's mind began to wander once again. Questions continued to float through his mind, but all centered around one perennial: _why does this keep happening?_

These thoughts continued until his mind slipped away into a restless sleep…

…Diagon Alley was one of those few places that never ceased to amaze Harry. It was one of the few places in the Wizarding world that he had some semblance of anonymity, where he could remain completely anonymous despite the scar partially covered by the unruly mop he called hair. Their was movement everywhere, countless witches and wizards caught up in their own daily lives, busily moving back and forth gathering the assorted items that filled the average magical shopping list. The narrow alley was packed so tightly that Harry had to literally force his way through the crowd and it wasn't until then that he realized he had no idea where he was going. "So what exactly are we doing?"

"We need to go to Gringotts to meet my parents," Hermione replied from his right. "Then we're meeting the Weasleys at Fred and George's shop. Now if you don't hurry up we're going to be late."

"Oi, she's always in a rush," Ron remarked from Harry's left and three continued to push their way through the throng of people. "Geez, why are their so many bloody people here today?"

"I don't know," Hermione replied, "It could have something to do with-"

With what Harry would never find out. Just as Hermione had begun her sentence Harry had lost his balance and fell directly on the cobblestone street. Shaking his head he pushed himself to his feet to come face to face with…nothing.

No one was near him, the hustle and bustle of Diagon Alley had disappeared, replaced by thick, red fog which obscured everything in sight. His first instinct, aside from instantly realizing that something was wrong, was to yell for Ron and Hermione but he received no answer, nor did he expect one. He threw his arm forward to try and feel his way through the mist, but he had the most peculiar feeling of walking but feeling his body remain in one place. That was when _he_ spoke…

"Hello Harry."

A chill tore its way up his spine…_Voldemort_.

"What do you want?"

"Now, now," the disembodied voice replied, "is that anyway to talk to an old friend?"

"You're _not_ my friend," Harry replied forcibly, the words forced through his teeth.

"Oh, you mean the Weasley and the mudblood, mere trivialities."

"Leave them out of this, you're dealing with me."

"Quite a temper you've got there Potter…best be careful, it might get you into trouble."

With Voldemort's last word, the fog was torn away but the red hue remained. Diagon Alley reappeared but the sky, the buildings everything tinged a deep red…then there were the bodies. Countless bodies littered the street, each lifeless, the blackness of death consuming the eyes of each. Then there was movement. A lone figure crouched over two unmoving bodies. Squinting, he tried to make out who it was before a familiar pain ripped through his forehead. His scar burning, he dropped to his knees and he felt something grip his shoulders hearing his name repeated as the world faded from view…

"Harry!"

_I'm shaking…why am I shaking…what's going on? _

"Wake up Harry!"

_Why is someone yelling at me…I'm awake, I'm awake…right?_

"Damn it Harry, snap out of it!"

_Huh…snap out of what…_

Consciousness snapped into place. Hands, there were hands on his shoulders. The hands were shaking him. _What do I do?_ Instinct yelled: _It doesn't matter just do something!_

He lashed out; his left arm struck who ever it was on what felt like the temple of his attacker. He unconsciously muttered, "_Accio__ wand_" and felt the wand land in his right hand before he turned it on his attacker. He was about to curse his attacker when he heard something that made him freeze:

"Bloody hell, mate."

"Ron?"

"Yeah," he choked, and Harry reached for his glasses still sitting on the bedside table and put them on. He then saw Ron sprawled on the floor with a rather large red lump forming on the side of his head. "Who did you think it was?"

"I...don't know…it was just a-"

"Bad dream," Harry turned to Ron, who looked at him sympathetically. "Look mate, I may not know what you're going through; but believe me, I'd have had to be as dense as Malfoy not to notice what was happening."

Harry grinned at the dig to his archrival. "Thanks for, waking me up."

"No worries, but I'm pretty sure everyone in the house heard you," Harry groaned at Ron's observation; _the last thing I need is Mrs. Weasley with a another reason to worry about me. _"Just go back to sleep and don't worry 'bout me mum."

Laying back down on the bed, Harry returned to his previous pastime of tracing the cracks in the roof before he head Ron's snores break the silence. As sleep began to overtake him once again, the last thing he noticed aside from Ron's mention of tap-dancing spiders was the soft click of the door…

The two made their way downstairs in time to see Mrs. Weasley emerge from the kitchen with a platter of food that Harry expected could have fed all of Hogwarts. "Morning boys, now you two tuck in. Harry my dear, how are you feeling." He nodded numbly and quickly pilled his plate with pancakes and bacon before Ron had a chance to grab everything. Ron made a remark about having to wait but grabbed nearly twice as much as Harry as soon as he had finished.

About ten minutes later and when both he and Ron were on thirds, Hermione and Ginny stumbled down the stairs half-asleep and took places at the table followed by Mr. Weasley and Lupin. Tonks appeared a few minutes later from the kitchen with a cup of coffee and took a seat next to Lupin.

A short puff of flame and smoke appeared above the table and two letters floated slowly to the center. Hermione grabbed both of them before tossing one to Harry and the other to Tonks. Tonks tore into hers but Harry merely studied his for a moment.

He knew it was from Dumbledore and after all the memories that were dredged up after last night and that cursed dream thrown in for good measure, he wasn't sure if he wanted to hear from the old man. He sighed inwardly and ripped open the envelope:

_Dear Harry,_

_ I'm sorry to hear that the connection between you and Tom is still alive and well. I heard about your dream last night (no it wasn't from your friend Ron) and I've come to a decision. If you wish to continue training in Occlumency then I will train you if you wish. If you do not, I will not force it upon you. Either way, I will call upon a mutual acquaintance of ours to create something for you that would act as a barrier between yourself and mental intrusions. If you do wish to continue you could merely use this item to keep Tom at bay until your mental defenses are up to par. If you choose not to then I merely ask that you wear this item to keep yourself safe. I will also make sure that it is easily concealable._

_ As you may have noticed, Ms. Tonks has also received a letter today. Since that letter concerns you I will fill you in on the details. Ms. Tonks, being both an Auror and a member of the Order, must follow both orders. Now because of that, our choice to have her act as a transfer student so that she can be your liaison between yourself and the Order, it would be difficult for her to maintain her cover if she was called away on assignment for the Ministry. So by pulling a few strings, I have managed to have Ms. Tonks assigned as your "bodyguard" indefinitely. Now this is only in the eyes of the Ministry and as we both know that is not her purpose there, but that position supercedes any other assignment that the Ministry can give her because the order comes directly from Minister Fudge himself. The only possible situation that could remove Ms. Tonks from her position would be a declaration of war from the Ministry and even with that occurrence, her position would most likely remain._

_ Just as a note, the item in question will be hand delivered by myself on the day you plan to head to Diagon Alley._

_Sincerely, _

_Albus Wulfric Percival Brian Dumbledore _

Harry felt something rise within him but quickly suppressed it. It was now imperative that he learn Occlumency. Realizing that by knowing the full Prophecy he was a liability to his own livelihood. Also by being the Order, he affected the livelihood of everyone in the Order as well. _Everyone…Lupin, Tonks, Moody, the Weasleys, Hermione…everyone…_

"You okay Harry?" it was Ginny sitting across the table with a concerned look.

Quickly shoving the letter into his pocket, Harry mumbled, "I'm fine." and continued eating.

She continued to look at him for a moment, the concern still there, but finally let it be after what seemed like an eternity. Harry pushed the thoughts from his mind, quietly rose from the table, and returned to his room. He didn't feel like studying at the moment and a one-player game of chess had its drawbacks so he resorted to the only thing he could think of: cleaning his broom.

A couple of hours later, his Firebolt was just as spotless and trimmed as the day he had received it. He wasn't sure when but Ron had appeared across the room and was staring at the broom with awe, something that hadn't diminished since the day he got it during his third year. He asked Ron where his broom was and Ron sheepishly snapped out of his glazed state and muttered something about needing to get it. When he returned a few moments later, he and Harry spent the next few hours returning the broom the state it had once been in when it was purchased from the store.

The next two days passed uneventfully and to be completely truthful with himself, Harry was almost curious about the item that Dumbledore had mentioned in the letter. Other than his insatiable curiosity over all things in general, a few standard outcome chess matches against Ron, and brief period of time where Tonks was asking for opinions as to how she should look when she showed up as a sixth year transfer student, life at Grimmauld Place was extremely dull. That is until the Friday before school started, because many things happened that day that he didn't expect.

Being woken by being shaken by his best friend for the second time in three days wasn't the most pleasant experience. Even knowing it was Ron, Harry had almost lashed out again on principle. But it was the news that Ron had that kept Harry from proving the principle.

"Harry, Dumbledore's here and I think he's got something for you."

Harry groaned and pulled himself from bed, _I know he's the most powerful wizard of the time but why does he always get here so early? _Getting dressed, he made his way downstairs to see Dumbledore sitting at the edge of the table with a wooden box before him.

"Good morning, Harry," the headmaster spoke with his trademark twinkle in place. It was then that he noticed there were others in the room. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley stood near the kitchen with Bill speaking adamantly about something. Lupin was residing in a chair near the middle of the table and Tonks was in a corner with a mirror still trying to decide what to use for her cover. Hermione was sitting next to Dumbledore looking rather peeved, most likely she was trying to figure out what was in the box with no luck. "I trust you have had a pleasant couple of nights sleep."

Harry nodded numbly, wondering if Dumbledore had anything to do with that.

"No Harry, I had nothing to do with that by the way, I was just…curious," he said, answering Harry's unasked question. "Did you decide to enroll in Alchemy?"

"Yes, but what exactly is Alchemy?" Harry asked.

Dumbledore smiled, "To tell you the truth Harry, its something that can really only be understood once you understand how to do it."

_Figures_. "Hermione mentioned that it is a science."

"Well then, ten points to Gryffindor when we return to school because she is right," Hermione blushed but was still too eager to see what was in the box to leave the table. "But it is _more_ than science. In its most general form, Alchemy is the study of the way things are made and what you can do with them once you understand that most intrinsic idea. To an extent, it is much like potions."

Harry groaned, "Snape isn't teaching it, is he?"

"Professor Snape, Harry, and no he isn't teaching it," Dumbledore paused as if considering whether to let the cat out of the bag or not. "I've retained the services of someone else to teach that class." _Apparently the cat was stuck for a while longer. _"He is, however, the one that made you this." Dumbledore gave the wooden box a soft tap of his wand and the lid slowly lifted.

Inside the box was something he didn't expect. If it was something to protect his mind for intrusion then he expected something like a necklace or pendant or something that would go near his head. These didn't go anywhere _near_ his head.

From what he could tell, they were bracers, a medieval form of armor that covered your forearms. But from what he'd seen about suits of armor, these were unlike any set of bracers that he had previously seen. They were entirely black save for what seemed to be golden characters etched into top. Dumbledore picked up one and handed it to Harry who took it to further exam it. It was surprisingly light, _it must be permanently enchanted with a feather light charm_.The golden characters were not the only mark to be found on the bracer. On the opposite side there was a white circle which appeared to be carved into it with a series of triangles dividing it into thirds. Running his finger over it, he realized that it hadn't been carved, but felt as if the blackened metal had been formed around the circle as it had with the golden symbols.

Harry was speechless, Hermione wasn't.

"But Headmaster, that can't possibly work!"

"I have every belief that they will," Dumbledore replied and Harry turned to Hermione curious as to what had sparked that outburst. "But for the sake of Ms. Granger's sanity, let's try them. Harry, if you would put these on."

Sliding one over his right hand, he felt the metal expand and contract to meet the contours of his arm, this even surprised Dumbledore. "Impressive, I didn't think he would use that spell."

"Any chance we could find out who 'he' is?" Harry asked, already knowing the answer.

"All good things come to those who wait," Dumbledore replied, but then added, "He is a mutual acquaintance though."

Harry sighed; Dumbledore was being as cryptic as ever. He slid the other bracer onto his left arm. He shut his eyes immediately as he felt something in his head, but relaxed when the most peculiar calming sensation slipped through his mind. It took him a moment to realize that he was completely at peace. He opened his eyes to see Dumbledore standing before him with his wand outstretched.

"Are you ready Harry?"

"Yes."

"Very well. _Legimens_"

It happened just as it had before with Snape. Harry felt something…_a presence…_slip into his head. But unlike with Snape, the presence was unable to slip into his mind much less access any of his memories. He could feel it near the edge of his mind, but every time Dumbledore tried to enter he was pushed away. The third time Dumbledore pushed much, much harder…_every action has an equal and opposite reaction…_Harry wasn't sure where that thought came from but the next thing he heard was Hermione screaming at him to open his eyes.

The room snapped back into focus and ten feet away from him Dumbledore was slouched against the wall with a vague look of disbelief covering his face. He shook his head slightly before a smile returned, "Interesting, most interesting…I didn't think he would make them that strong."

"Prof…Professor, what just happened," Hermione stammered while everyone else in the room was still stunned.

"I underestimated the bracers on Harry's arms," Dumbledore replied, pulling himself up from the floor. "I can say for a fact that they do work."

"But _how?_ The…bracers use Runes, but Runes can't be etched onto object and still have their properties."

"Correct."

"But the Runes weren't embedded either and embedding a Rune is the only way to attach a Rune without compromising its magical properties."

"Correct," Dumbledore's one word answers seemed to inflame her more.

"Then why does it work? It doesn't follow any magical laws…they shouldn't work!"

"I understand what you are saying Ms. Granger, but you must also remember is that rules are never supreme," Dumbledore gave her a knowing smile before saying goodbye to everyone in the room before exiting through the front door leaving a very distraught Hermione standing in the middle of the room.

"Umm…Hermione, what do you mean it shouldn't work," she snapped back to reality.

"That bracer uses Runes to work. When you make a Rune, you have to make them separately because each has Rune has individual properties. Advanced Rune makers can link Runes together to create desired effects but the closest they can get to something wearable is to embed the Runes onto whatever object they want." She finished speaking with every eye in the room either on her or Harry's wrists. She slumped into one of the chairs near the table, "it shouldn't work…"

"But it does," cue Ron, Captain Obvious. "Wicked."

"Well, I think we should probably get a move on then, lots of things to do," Mrs. Weasley had snapped out of her apparent reverie and now the house wasn't chaotic enough for her liking. "You should probably cover those dear," she mentioned as she rushed past him towards the stairs for who knows what.

Not really caring, Harry headed for his room and pulled an oversized black jacket from his trunk to cover the two bracers. The door slammed open and Ron stood panting before him, "Mum wants everyone downstairs, Knight Bus is here." Harry looked closer at his best friend; he seemed a little…pale. "What? Do I have something on my face?"

"No you just…scared?"

"That wizard driving that bloody thing is nuts, I'm telling you!"

"That's a yes."

The two friends made their way down to the street outside Grimmauld Place and the massive purple bus stood before them in broad daylight. Mr. Weasley, Ginny, and Hermione must have already been on board as Mrs. Weasley was rushing them towards the entrance to the bus. They were seated on the top floor of the bus, the same armchairs they had used before were currently residing in a less than ordered fashion. Ron gulped loudly and the group took a seat.

"I hate this thing," came a groan from the stairway and everyone turned to see Moody and Tonks enter the upper floor. Harry smirked, _the Knight Bus does have a way with people._

He heard a muffled call from two stories down and with a bang, the bus lurched forward sending everyone flying across the room.


	4. Diagon Alley

**Shadows of War**

**Diagon Alley**

The trip to Diagon Alley was colorful to say the least. The large group emerged from the triple decker bus slightly worse for wear but with no serious injuries although Ron claimed the final stop had given him a sprain. With the party safely departed, the Knight Bus shot forward once again down the sidewalk before making a right and shooting through an alleyway. To anyone else it would have been normal, but it all seemed wrong to Harry. Not really paying attention, he silently followed the group into the Leaky Cauldron. His mind ignored the remarks made by those few patrons frequenting the Cauldron rather focusing on what had occupied his mind for the previous days.

Ever since his dream he had a growing feeling of unease concerning everything. But when ever it crossed his mind that his dream might have been a premonition, he merely reminded himself that the last time he _thought_ one of his visions was a premonition and did something about it he had nearly killed five of his friends and succeeded in getting Sirius-

_No…he's just messing with my mind, trying to get me to make a mistake again…I won't let it happen…not again… _"Harry, mate you okay?"

Ron's voice snapped him from his silent reverie and he glanced towards his friend. "Yeah I'm…Ron, remember what happened before the Department of Mysteries…you know," his voice dropped to a whisper, "when I had a vision of something happening."

"Geez Harry, how could I forget? I mean that really creeped me-" he stopped mid-sentence, as if putting two and two together, "it happened again didn't it?"

Harry nodded.

"The other night? The nightmare?"

Another nod.

"Let me guess, the dream was about Diagon Alley?"

The final nod.

"This was the last thing I wanted, bloody hell."

"Ronald, watch your language!" Mrs. Weasley snapped from the front of the pack.

"Sorry mum," Ron replied before turning to Harry, "I still don't know how she does that. Anyway, what should we do?"

"I don't know, I mean it probably wasn't even real...he was probably trying to get me to slip up or something…I don't know."

"Think we should tell 'em? The adults I mean…"

"I don't know yet."

"Harry, this is a little last minute."

"I know, I know…I just tried to ignore it so what happened last time didn't happen again. I thought he was just trying to get to me like last time."

"Well…yeah, I didn't think about that." Ron conceded, looking thoughtful for a moment before continuing. "Harry, you know I'm behind you but this is kind of a big thing. I mean if something happens-"

"If what happens?"

Both boys turned to see Tonks standing behind them with a fairly concerned expression and both scrambled to find an excuse. But before they could answer she continued, "This has something to do with Harry's dream doesn't it?"

They nodded.

"And it has something to do with Diagon Alley, right?"

They nodded again.

"Oh well, I had a feeling something like this was going to happen."

"You did?" Ron asked surprised.

"Yeah, You-Know-Who's been too quiet lately, so Kingsley and I made a recommendation to the Ministry that we need to keep a group of Auror's on call and ready to apparate at all hours."

"So even if something happens…"

"We'll be okay; I'm just going to tell Moody, you know how he hates to be uninformed." She made her way to where Moody stood in the group, almost tripping over a chair.

"So I guess it's covered then," Ron absentmindedly mumbled leaning against the wall.

"Yeah…covered…"

"You two are being awfully quiet over there, I'd hate to think you're up to something," Hermione remarked, making her way from the clump of adults towards Harry and Ron.

"We didn't even do anything!" Ron replied, somehow taking offense.

"So what are we doing?" Harry interrupted.

"I think they're getting other things straightened out; I just need to meet my parents at Gringotts," Hermione answered, glancing back towards the adults.

"Well that's always the first stop," Ginny added joining the other teenagers.

"I just don't see why they couldn't take care of that before we got here," Ron commented, obviously regarding this hold-up as a complete waste of time.

"Sometimes certain things require planning," Hermione responded.

"I just don't see why-" Ron had barely started his comeback before Mrs. Weasley shouted for the group of them to get a move on. "Yeah, 'cause we're the one's holding up the group," he remarked sourly before pushing himself away from the wall. Harry grinned, following the group towards the entrance to Diagon Alley...

Despite the circle of people surrounding Harry, passersby still managed to catch glimpses of the Boy-Who-Lived. A few actually shouted towards him, calling out "We believed you Harry" and "We're behind you all the way" and much to his embarrassment an "I love you Harry!" once or twice. But Harry's personal favorite had been yelled by two familiar faces: "Fudge is a prat!" followed by "Harry Potter for Minister!" The two twins were quickly reprimanded by their mother despite the fact that her husband was doubled over in laughter. "Arthur this isn't funny."

"Yes it is, the man isn't going to be in office for another year," Mr. Weasley called back once he managed a breath.

At this point Ron, taking it upon himself to fill in Harry, leaned towards him, "There's a lot of people in the Ministry trying to get rid of Fudge.

"Great, so we'll get an even bigger prat instead," Harry groaned.

"Actually it might be Amelia Bones," Mr. Weasley cut into the conversation. "A small few wanted me but I couldn't bear the thought of being in charge let alone during a war with You-Know-Who; so I threw what weight I had behind Amelia and she'll most likely end up as Minister."

Harry thought it over for a moment and remembered the witch from a year before who had questioned him during the trial. _It might no be that bad…_

"So Harry," George's shout caught Harry off guard, "What do you think of the store?" Harry hadn't noticed the store before and was now amazed that he had missed it. The store front of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes had to be the most tactless and gaudy display of pure, unadulterated color, sheer random designs, and what seemed to be their trademark never ending fireworks thrown in for good measure. In a few words, it was the twins. In one word, it was perfect.

"It's brilliant!" he yelled and the twins grinned with maniacal glee.

"Don't encourage them dear," Mrs. Weasley said from his left. "I still don't know where they got the galleons for this in the first place."

"Oh come off it Mum," Fred pleaded. "We told you we have a respectable backer."

"Oh? Then who? Who is so 'respectable' that you can't even say their name?"

"He prefers his privacy," George added, trying to get his mother off the interrogation path but also knowing it was to no avail.

"How do you know he isn't a crook?"

"Alright, just stop it already!" Harry yelled, frustration building since Mrs. Weasley's interrogation began. "I'm the backer. As honored that I am that Fred and George protected me this long I've had enough of this!" he turned from the twins to Mrs. Weasley's stunned face. "I am their backer. I gave them the thousand galleon prize from the Tri-Wizard Tournament because I was _not_ going to keep it."

Mrs. Weasley stood in stunned silence from a moment, obviously grasping at what Harry had just and when it finally clicked, "Well…I guess we don't need to worry about their source anymore, do we Arthur?"

"I wasn't worried," Mr. Weasley replied before noticing the glare directed at him from his wife, he then quickly reconsidered his answer. "Oh, yes, I quite agree."

The twins broke into hysterical laughter as the group made their way from Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes and towards Gringotts. Apparently there was a surge of business at the twins shop once everyone began to link their store with the Boy-Who-Lived. Harry knew the twins were waiting for them to be out of earshot but years of listening for Filch paid off when he heard one of them yell, "That's right folks, Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes is backed by none other than Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived! If it's good enough for Harry Potter, what have you got to fear?"

As they reached the center of Diagon Alley, the foreboding presence of Gringott's Bank and Trust began to tower over them when a delighted yell came from his right as Hermione split away from the group and ran towards a couple standing near the doorway.

"Oi, Harry, check it out!" Ron said, jabbing him in the side with his elbow. "Battle gear!"

That caught Harry's attention and turned towards the store front Ron was sprinting towards. He came to a stop before a store Harry had never noticed before. The sign above the door proclaimed "Rookwell's Outfitters" with a faded shield beneath. The glass display featured various mannequins, all wearing darkly colored, form fitting clothes made of a luminescent material that Harry had seen before…_Bill's boots…_ "Is that dragon's hide?"

"Of course," a somewhat ethereal voice spoke from behind them. They both turned to see a blond woman in her mid-twenties with quite a few piercing. "The best battle gear is made from dragon's hide and magically treated to resist most curses, jinxes, and various charms. Oh, sorry; I didn't introduce myself. I'm Alicia Rookwell."

"Ron Weasley."

"Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter…" she trailed off and he saw her eyes float to his forehead and then back to his eyes. "So you're Harry Potter, had some bad press lately haven't you."

"I'd rather not talk about it," he replied coldly, turning away slightly.

"No, I'm sorry," she cut in quickly. "I have a tendency to just say things without thinking."

"Don't worry about it," came Harry's mumbled reply.

"Did you two want to see anything?"

The moment those words had left her mouth Ron's eyes lit up like a kid who realized he could fly.

As Harry turned to enter the store, the echoing _crack_ of an apparition filled the street. "Bloody hell, kids these days, no common decency whatsoever…" an older wizard mumbled from Harry's left. Harry agreed with the man, but stopped caring about 'kids with no common decency' when the same resounding crack ripped through the alley thirty times over.

This startling number of apparitions pulled nearly every witch and wizards' attention towards the source.

Black robes. White masks. Wands drawn.

Death Eaters.

You can tell a lot about a person by the way they react to a dangerous situation. Some choose to flee to save their own lives while others choose to protect those important to them. Some will fail to completely grasp the situation until it is too late while still others recognize the situation immediately but the onset of shock does not allow them to act. Then there are those select few whose immediate response to a dangerous situation is to fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. On that Friday in Diagon Alley, every type of reaction was shown.

Harry was one of the first to notice the Death Eaters and he was the first to draw his wand.

"Get down!"

His shout tore through Diagon Alley just as the sound of apparition had seconds before. Some turned to look, others ignored him, but some reacted. Mrs. Weasley's arm shot towards Ginny to pull her close even while Ginny was drawing her wand. Mr. Weasley stepped before his wife and daughter while placing himself between them and the Death Eaters. Tonks made a move towards the Grangers who obviously had no idea what was going on while Moody moved towards Weasleys in an attempt to remove them from the line of fire. Harry remained just outside the doorway to "Rookwell's Outfitters" with Ron behind him, both wands outstretched.

Harry knew why there were here. He knew that he was a target. He also knew that to the Death Eaters, everyone here was expendable and that they would die if they got in the way. He knew that casualties were going to occur. He also knew it wouldn't end until all the Death Eaters were captured, dead, or completely overwhelmed.

"Get down!"

The air literally crackled with magic before the multi-colored wave of spells flew from the Death Eaters in every direction. In the split second before he ducked to the ground, Harry saw nearly every form of Dark Magic that he knew including some Avade Kedavras thrown in for good measure. He felt rubble pelt his backside as a spell slammed into the wall behind him. Rising slightly he tried to shake the ringing from his head, but as the dull drone subsided the cries of pain came from every direction.

Still in a daze, the dull ring still present, Harry looked to his left. Bodies were strewn across the cobblestone street, their faces racked with pain and blood everywhere. But what hit Harry most wasn't the carnage, it wasn't even the fact that not all those lying on the ground were dead; it was the fact that the damage was indiscriminate. There was a woman no more than ten feet away cradling her daughter whose arm had been visibly ripped away by a severing charm. There was a man with a broken leg on the other side of the street trying frantically to reach a woman (Harry assumed was his wife) who's chest and probably right lung had been pierced by a large piece of shrapnel, and she lay gasping for air in the middle of the street. And it continued…witches and wizards who were trying to protect their families and loved ones only to be cut down by Dark Magic.

_This is what a war really is…_Harry's mind finally left the daze and began to think rationally.

"Harry! Harry, you okay?" Ron called frantically before grabbing his shoulders.

Harry nodded quickly before turning back to the situation at hand. The Death Eaters were concentrated on the opposite side of Gringotts. Moody had apparently managed to get Ginny, along with Mr. and Mrs. Weasley out of the middle of the street and they were currently crouched in a store farther down the street. But as Harry's eyes scanned the street, there was no sign of Tonks, Hermione or her parents.

_We have to find them._

"Ron, come on," Harry launched himself into a crouched run towards Gringotts, skidding to a halt behind an outcropping shielding them from the Death Eaters. A split-second later Ron slid besides him, his eyes darting around the street. "Where's my dad?"

"Shh, he's over there with Moody, Ginny, and your Mom."

"What about Hermione?"

"Don't know, that's why we're here, now hang on," Harry leaned around the corner, the Death Eaters were still more or less in the same spot that they had apparated in. They had, however, arrayed themselves in a circular formation making sneaking up from the rear extremely difficult if not impossible…_Assuming I could get behind them…_Harry grimaced. _The second I use a spell they'll know where I am. Unless…_

His eyes turned to Moody and the Weasleys. He tapped the Signum on his hand. _Moody._

As he watched, Moody's head popped up in surprise before returning to its usual grimace. _What do you want Potter?_

_Can you see the Grangers?_

_Yeah, they took cover about five feet from your position._

_Is Tonks still with them?_

_Yeah._

_Can you draw their fire so we can get them out?_

Silence. _Fine, but you're explaining to Dumbledore that it was your idea._

_Agreed._ Harry responded and watched as Moody raised his hand, all five gnarled fingers extended. He then lowered one…

Four.

Three.

"Harry, what's going on?"

Two.

"Just follow me."

One.

"Stay low."

Moody dropped his hand and both he and Mr. Weasley fired a volley of spells towards the mass of Death Eaters. Seizing the opportunity, both Harry and Ron jumped from cover and ran towards the where Moody had said the Grangers were…but they weren't there. _Crap, where are th-"_

A hand gripped his right arm and pulled him roughly into the archway of the entrance to Gringotts. Slightly perplexed by the abrupt change of direction, Harry went a whole five seconds staring blankly into the eyes of one Nymphadora Tonks. She had the most confusing expression Harry had ever seen. It looked like concern mixed with happiness with a hint of guilt. Slightly more confused now, he shook it off, and pushed himself upwards and turned to the others. Hermione's parents were more than a little shaken, _not surprising, they have no idea what's going on._ Hermione seemed a little shaken up as well but the fact that she had he wand out meant she knew enough about what was going on to defend herself at least.

_Potter._ Moody's voice echoed through his head. _I'm going to draw them away from your position, get ready._

_Okay._

No sooner than he had responded, a sudden barrage of spells whipped down Diagon Alley towards the Death Eaters with a few muffled "_Protego!_" shields before the explosions of ricocheting spells shook the ground. "There he is, _Avada Kedavra!_"

A large group of Death Eaters passed by the small alcove hiding the five of them…_I hope Moody knows what he's doing_. When the last Death Eater had passed, Harry realized that the Death Eaters had made an incredible tactical blunder…_we're behind them now…_ "Ron, Tonks, Hermione, come on. You two," he pointed to the Grangers, "stay down and stay out of sight."

Wand in hand he pulled himself upright and moved to the edge of cover, Ron, Hermione and Tonks behind him with wands ready. "Attack fast, keep moving," Tonks' voice came from behind nodded in understanding. "Go!"

Harry stepped into the sunlight and turned right to find a small group of Death Eaters remaining at the apparition point. "_Stupefy! Petrificus Totalus!_" one Death Eater dropped to the ground while the other merely toppled, his body rigid. Two blasts of red light came from Tonks and Ron to his right and a final stunner from Hermione finished the remaining the last Death Eater.

Harry turned to see the remaining Death Eaters chasing after Moody who appeared to be running as fast as possible with a wooden leg. Unfortunately the Death Eaters in the rear of the group noticed that the four of them had disarmed their comrades and decided that revenge was in order.

A bolt of green ripped across the open space between the two groups headed directly towards Harry. Stepping aside he felt the rush of air whip against his body and fired a Reductor curse towards the Death Eater. The spell caught him in the shoulder, and a sickening crunch told him that arm had broken. The man dropped to the floor knocking over another Death Eater in the process and Harry fired another Reductor, not at the Death Eaters, but at the ground between the two groups. The spell blew a hole in the cobblestone street and sent up a cloud of dirt and debris that blinded the Death Eaters. "Spread out!"

The four of them split into groups of two, Ron went to the opposite side with Tonks and Hermione moved in to back up Harry. It wasn't until Harry had moved to the side of the street that he noticed a bolt of green flying towards Moody's back. Knowing it was too late to say anything, Harry watched as the green spell struck the Auror in the back and then it did something that Harry did not expect: it exploded. Liquid went everywhere and what Harry couldn't understand was why Moody was made of water.

For the second time that day, an arm grabbed him and pulled him roughly aside as a spell collided with the wall where Harry had just been standing. "Are you daft boy, what the hell are you doing standing still in the middle of a fight like that?" It was Moody.

"But you just…Shouldn't you be…what the hell?"

"It's an Auror trick, explanations later!" he yelled as another spell hit near them, Moody fired another spell around the corner they had ducked behind. "Where are the Grangers?"

"They're still hiding by Gringotts," Harry answered sending an Impediment curse towards the group of Death Eaters. Leaning around the corner, he watched as his curse spun harmlessly away from a Shielding charm.

"It's Potter!' exclaimed one of the faceless Death Eaters. "You six stay here; the rest of you keep moving!" He was gesturing now, making him a lot easier to spot. Moody took aim, mumbled an incantation, and fired a spell against the gesturing Death Eater. The spell struck, coating the man's dark robes with an iridescent blue.

"He's the leader, we need to take him out," Moody grumbled seemingly to no one in particular.

"They're splitting up? I thought I was the target," Harry wondered aloud as Moody tried to hex the blue Death Eater.

"They must have another target," Hermione answered, she herself still trying to figure out what that target might be.

"Worry about it later," Moody interrupted, "we need to deal with these ones first."

Harry nodded, glancing towards where Tonks and Ron had taken cover. They were both frantically firing spells towards the Death Eaters but it was Tonks who got Harry's attention. She wasn't trying to control her appearance anymore and even though most of it remained the same, it seemed that her emotions were taking control of some of it. Every time she fired a spell her hair color changed slightly, and that gave Harry an idea. "Disillusion me."

Moody stared at him blankly before his mind registered Harry's plan and he cast the charm. The uncomfortably familiar feeling of a cracked egg covering his entire body returned and after a few seconds the chameleon effect of the spell had covered him completely. "There, now don't get yourself killed."

"Fine," Harry mumbled in agreement before getting to his feet and strolling to the middle of the street. Before him stood the looming figures of six black robed figures and one flamboyantly blue. _Take out their leader…here goes nothing…_ "_Stupefy! Inverte Stature!_"

The stunner stuck the unaware Death Eater and as he slumped to the ground the second spell slammed into his body, flipping him into the air. He landed six feet away from his previous position with a sickening thud and the crack of broken bones.

Each Death Eater turned to the spot Harry had been and confusion filled the air. "He must be using a disillusionment charm, spread ou-" Tonks' stunner slammed into his back. The remaining five began to back towards the group that had split off when Moody caught the middle Death Eater with a petrifaction curse. The four remaining Death Eaters sprinted for the other group while Tonks stunned the two rear stragglers. She and Moody began to move down the alley after the remaining Death Eaters leaving Harry, Ron, and Hermione in what just seconds before was a warzone.

"Mate, that was brilliant!" Ron shouted coming up to him as Harry cast the counter-charm on himself.

"Thanks," Harry grinned sheepishly before turning to Hermione, "You should probably go check on your parents." She nodded quietly before running towards where her parents had remained during the fight.

_Harry we have a problem!_ Tonks' voice echoed through his head. _Get to cover now!_

"Ron, get down!"

"But Harry-"

"Get down _now_!"

Ron moved back to where he had taken cover before, but this time Harry was with him. But it didn't feel right, something was wrong…_Hermione…_

"Hermione get down!"

She whirled around to see a charm directed at her. Harry and Ron could only watch as she cast a shielding charm. The shimmering wave of energy appeared before her, reflecting the charm harmlessly into the sky. It was then that she realized that a second charm was headed towards her. Seeing no other option, Harry leapt from his crouched position, charging across the cobblestone street shoving her to the side as he felt the spell strike his left shoulder. The impact jerked his left side backward with enough force to cause him to lose his balance and he landed on his back staring upward at the pale blue sky.

Someone screamed his name before a pair of hands pulled him to the side of the street. He could hear a slightly muffled sob coming from whoever grabbed him. Mentally checking if he had all his body parts and when everything checked out he pulled himself upward. Upon moving he noticed that his left shoulder was slightly stiff, but aside from that there was nothing wrong…that is until he couldn't find his wand. His eyes scanned the street frantically until they found it lying in the middle of the street. Glancing towards the Death Eaters, who seemed to have their hands busy, Harry once again seized the opportunities.

"_Avada Kedavra!_"

Harry dove for his wand, his mind registering the rush of air as it passed within inches of his body. His fingers wrapped around the wand and as he scrambled to his feet, his side of the battle came to an abrupt stand still. It was obvious to anyone that the Death Eaters had inflicted heavy losses against those at Diagon Alley. There were still some ten-to-fifteen that had not been incapacitated and Harry didn't even want to contemplate the numbers of wizards and witches that had fallen by their hand.

"So this is the great Harry Potter," a voice sneered from the faceless horde. "Rather pathetic really."

"You attack innocent bystanders and I'm pathetic," Harry retorted.

"Did you hear that? He thinks he's better than us!" the voice called back, a few laughs came from the mass.

_Harry…what's going on?_ It was Tonks.

_They're talking._

_See if you can keep them busy._

_Fun._

"I said answer me boy!"

"Sorry, wasn't paying attention."

"I think we should teach you a lesson in manners, wouldn't you agree?" the voice had a chilling quality that made Harry's hair stand on end…_I don't think I want to know…_

The group of Death Eaters surged forward around their newly self-elected leader. _This isn't good, we're getting closer to Ron, Hermione and her parents…_ His mind was screaming at his body to do something but his body only took a step backward…away from the Death Eaters and closer to his friends.

"_Imperio!_"

The spell struck Harry's chest and the calming sensation once again swept through his mind. But as quickly as it entered it was replaced by something else.

"Lower your wand."

Seconds ticked by and Harry's wand remained in the same position. The voice that had echoed through his mind the last time he was under the Imperious Curse was strangely absent and it dawned on him that he had somehow fought off the Unforgivable Curse without realizing it. "Ah look, he's trying to fight it." A few laughs came from the horde and they seemed to have gotten the wrong idea about what was happening and deciding that it would be best to keep up the charade and lowered his wand.

"Good, now I want you to swear allegiance to the Dark Lord."

"_Reducto!_"

Once again the spell struck the cobblestone street sending chunks of dust and debris into the air, obscuring all vision. Reacting on instinct, Harry ran towards cover knowing the Death Eaters wouldn't wait for a clear shot, but would rather send spells in every direction. Sure enough, he was right.

The incantations of spells came from every direction. Indiscriminate shouts could be heard from every direction and the dust and debris from spells impacting walls and ground lay so thick in the air that vision was limited to your hand about a foot in front of your face. The chaos was overwhelming. Harry could feel adrenaline pumping through his body in such a way that he was sure his blood vessels would burst. For how long it lasted he couldn't be sure but he would always remember the end. It was brought about by a scream that belonged to Hermione followed by a seemingly endless series of cracks caused by apparition.

"_Mosmorde!_"

A flash of green light filled the dust and the outline of a demonic green skull hung in the sky above Diagon Alley. Another series of cracks followed and a silence coated the street only to be shattered by a voice. "Harry? Mate you still there?"

_It could be a trap…_

"Harry this is serious!"

Abandoning caution, Harry stepped from cover to see men in black robes running in every direction. His right hand unconsciously tightened its grip around his wand before his mind forced it to stop. _They aren't Death Eaters…they're Aurors…_Unfortunately that thought did nothing to calm his mind.

A bolt of red caught his attention and he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. "Harry, are you okay?" It took him a moment to comprehend that it was Ginny half-mumbling into his chest. Slightly taken aback by the sudden overt showing of affection, he realized that it was nothing when Mrs. Weasley pulled him into a vice grip.

"Oh thank Merlin your safe. If you _ever_ do anything like that again I'll…I'll kill you myself!"

"Mrs. Weasley, you did-"

"Harry!" it was Ron. "Come on mate!" A hand grabbed him, pulling him through what dust remained floating in the air.

"What is it?" The dust cleared before Ron could answer. The black robed Aurors were in every direction inspecting structural damage caused by spells, they were reviving those that could be brought back and covering those that couldn't. There were a few of the green robed Healers from St. Mungos but they were apparating in and out so quickly that Harry couldn't keep track of how many there were. The sight was grisly, but there were two covered bodies that caught Harry's attention. A pool of blood had formed underneath one while the other lay just to the left. Gruesome as he could tell the murders had been, not as though others hadn't died in gruesome fashions, but it was the form hunched over them that had grabbed Harry's attention. "Her-Hermione?"

Her head lifted slowly, red-rimmed eyes streaming tears met his and he saw pain a person could only know once they've lost someone dear_…a pain I know so well…_

Her head lowered slowly, barely audible words escaped her lips, "They're dead." Her voice trailed off and she forced her trembling body to stand. "They shouldn't have died…its all my fault…I should be dead, not them-"

He couldn't take it.

His arms shot from his sides, grabbing her shoulders. Her gaze leapt from the ground and to meet his eyes. For a second she seemed to shy away but quickly decided to stand firm. "Whatever makes you think it's your fault it isn't. That wasn't something you could control and it won't matter how much you beat yourself up about it. You aren't responsible, the person who fired the spell was."

His words had an effect on her, whether it was for better or worse he couldn't tell, but as her arms wrapped around his body and the sobs muffled by his chest quickly became much stronger he knew that his words had an effect. Realizing that what she needed the most at the moment was comfort; he slowly slid his arms around her, holding her gently as she cried.

"Harry, I think we've got a problem," Ron's voice quivered slightly. Twisting slightly, Hermione still in his arms, he saw Ron holding three envelopes. "They're addressed to us, from the Misuse of Magic Department."

"You're underage wizards?"

The voice caught them off guard and all three turned to see an Auror giving them a wide-eyed stare. "Yes."

"And you fought in this?" they nodded. "What are your names?"

"I'm Ron Weasley."

"She's Hermione Granger," Harry said gesturing with his head to the witch in his arms, "and I'm Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter? Merlin, I've heard stories but I didn't know you were this good," the Auror whistled, obviously impressed.

"I didn't do all of it," Harry responded, slightly annoyed.

"Right, sorry…" the man trailed off before regaining his composure. "Anyway, _Accio!_" the three letters flew from Ron's hand to the Auror. "I'll take care of these, I can see you were justified."

"It doesn't have to go through Fudge does it?" Harry questioned, his voice gaining a cold undertone.

"Merlin's sake no, where did you get that idea?"

"I got dragged in front of the Wizengamot for saving my muggle cousin from two dementors."

"That's a bit extreme, I'll let you in on a secret," the Auror stepped closer to them, apparently trying to keep whatever he had to say from being heard by eavesdroppers. "The Wizengamot has declared war on the You-Know-Who and his followers. It's not public 'cause it would just cause people to panic. But anyway, during a war, instances of the Decree of the Restriction of Underage, well you know what law, if an Auror signs off, says it was justified, then it gets expunged and filed, end of story. Now if you'll excuse me."

With a crack, the Auror apparated, leaving the three teens amidst the chaos that remained.


	5. Aftermath

**Aftermath**

"All I want to know is who the target was!" Harry's words filled the dinning room of Grimmauld Place two days after the attack on Diagon Alley. Needless to say, the attack caused an immediate reaction within the Wizarding community.

When word broke that the Harry had been involved in the battle, the _Prophet_ quickly latched on to the story and ran with it. In a day's time, it turned into an epic struggle of good against evil, The-Boy-Who-Lived against a countless, faceless horde of Death Eaters. How only he had been brave enough to stand up against the forces of evil. So-called eyewitnesses spoke of how he had stared down twenty Death Eaters then stunned them all before the Aurors had even bothered to arrive. It was complete rubbish of course, but that hadn't stopped the _Prophet _from printing a third edition before noon that day to keep up with demand. It was their highest selling edition since the Potter, Granger, Krum love triangle two years before.

But despite this hyperbole of heroism, the next day Diagon Alley, the central hub of Wizarding commerce for London if not all of Britain, was deserted. Shops were closed due to construction and even those few owners whose stores were left untouched by the massacre decided to stay away. Even Weasleys' Wizarding Wheezes was closed for the day but there was a note on the door referring potential customers to their self-updating catalogues. But that would have required customers to come to brave the outside world and come to Diagon Alley to see the note. This single move by You-Know-Who had created a panic unseen in the Wizarding community since the days of Grendelwald. Such a daring strike at the heart of the Wizarding world caused a resounding pang of fear to spread across and engulf the entire magical community. No one left their homes unless it could be helped and even then they would only travel in groups with more than four people. Families gathered for dinner in silence, as if a whisper would bring the wrath of the Death Eaters down upon them. The Ministry had been inundated with requests to close Floo connections and create Anti-Apparation wards across the country. But even without these requests, the Ministry had their hands full trying to spin the incident.

The _Daily Prophet_, their ally only months earlier in the war against Harry, had turned on their former master. The next day, beneath Harry's heroic victory against all odds, was a scathing editorial by none other than Rita Skeeter condemning the Ministry for their lack of foresight, preparedness, and sheer incompetence. Speaking of how they should have known that this would have happened, how countless innocent lives were lost because the Ministry, and Fudge in particular, showed a reckless disregard for the safety of their own citizens. This of course gave the Ministry no help in actually creating a plan to stop another incident from occurring and really only established that more people wanted Fudge out of office than ever before.

This was compounded when the Ministry's Muggle Relations Department learned of the deaths of Hermione's muggle parents since they now had to fabricate a plausible reason that two healthy dentists died while still in London. Amidst the creation of the fatal automobile accident, a member of the team had burst through the doors with news of muggles outside Diagon Alley speaking of explosions coming from what had always been believed to be a barren lot had caused quite a few complaints to the local law enforcement. These complaints were quickly dismissed due the audacity of the claims and that once they left the station they had no recollection of why they had been there (courtesy of an oblivator rushed to the scene).

The Order, in the meantime, was trying to find out as much information as they possibly could concerning the motivation behind the attack. Unfortunately, due to the inherent limitations of monitoring Voldemort's activities, the task of gathering information fell to one person.

"If the target wasn't me then it had to have been someone else!" Harry reiterated.

"There was no target Mr. Potter," Snape's cool voice seeped through the room from where he sat.

"How could there have _not_ been a target?"

"Yes Serverus," Dumbledore's calm voice floated across the assembled Order members. "Would you care to explain yourself?"

"The Dark Lord has made no overt actions since the Ministry made the statement concerning his return. The…incident at the Burrow," Snape began, cutting off those who begun to interject, "was _not_ something the Dark Lord wanted to happen and it was _not_ reported so it is of no concern to the public. The attack on Diagon Alley was an overt act of terrorism. The only goal of that attack was to maim or kill as many people as possible."

"But why wait?" asked Ron.

"Because, Mr. Weasley, by waiting two months after the Ministry's statement, people begin to doubt the Ministry. Now the people will be screaming for the Ministry to do something. Now all we can do is to hope they make the right decision."

"We've seen all the 'right' decisions they've made before," Harry muttered, rising from the table and heading for the door. A few murmurs came from those of the Order unknown to him, but he ignored their remarks and pushed open the door. Making a right, he headed up the long staircase to the second floor his mind adrift…_all those people dead, Hermione's parents dead, lives destroyed…and for no reason, just to cause pain…so this, this is a war…_

-----

Rain whipped past the window of the compartment Harry had decided to occupy for the trip to Hogwarts. Hermione and Ron had left for the Prefect's compartment as soon as the train had departed Platform 9 ¾. Ron had once again reverted to calling the first year's midgets, but to everyone's surprise and Harry's concern, Hermione said nothing to correct him. To say that Harry was concerned would be an understatement. Knowing full well what that type of guilt does to a person. She had barely had any time to grieve before they had to return to school and with the funeral only the day before and barely any of her family being able to make it, Harry was sure this was having more of an effect on her psyche than she let on. That compounded with the fact that the family Granger was spread across the globe, it seemed highly unlikely that she would be able to stay in England if she went to live with a relative.

Unfortunately, after the immediate display of emotions following the deaths of her parents, she had shut herself off completely. Everyone who tried to speak to her was cast aside and ignored. Ginny had tried to talk to her once while bringing her food but the result, as Ginny had put it, was like she had been petrified: she was physically there but there was absolutely no reaction. Mrs. Weasley had tried to speak with her on multiple occasions but on the rare occurrence that she said anything it consisted of "Leave me alone." This alone had created tension over what, if anything, that they could or should do for her.

The problem that had arisen from that line of thought was that, aside from Harry, none had dealt with the loss of a parent under the same circumstances. Initially they had tried being coy about getting him to talk to her but after all attempts of subterfuge failed Ron, under pressure from his mother, finally came to Harry to ask him flat out. It was that question that tore Harry in multiple directions. On one hand he didn't want one of his friends to suffer through the loss without anyone there to help. But on the same token, he didn't want to force Hermione to speak with him about it if she didn't want to since all that could come of that was more self-loathing. Finally making the decision that he wouldn't force anything, he remained in the dinning room of Grimmauld Place awaiting the trip to Platform 9 ¾.

"I can't believe they attacked Diagon Alley," Neville muttered in disbelief from behind his copy of _The Daily Prophet_.

"That's not _really_ how it happened," Ginny cut in flipping to the next page in her edition, but she seemed just as annoyed with the _Prophet_'s rendition of events as Harry was.

"I know it's not what happened," Neville replied a little dejected. "I just can't believe it happened…"

Luna, who had remained withdrawn in her own world since the train left, finally glanced over her upside down issue of _The Quibbler_ to look at Harry, "How's Hermione?"

"She's pretty shaken, I don't kn- who's that?" the entire compartment turned to look the direction Harry had turned to see a young witch with shoulder length dirty blond hair standing just outside the door. The door opened timidly.

"Umm…Hi, all the other compartments are full, do you mind?" _Huh, she's polite for an American._

"Sure, take a seat," Ginny answered, apparently eager for female company that actually responded.

The girl took a seat across from Harry, who turned back to studying the rain pelting the window. He barely caught that her name is Avalon but he did notice that he'd never seen the hazel-eyed witch before and that made him very wary of her. He also hadn't consciously slipped his hand into his robe to grab his wand but did realize that it remained there for the rest of the trip…

The group of five met up with Ron and Hermione when the train finally reached the station at Hogsmeade. After saying a brief hello to Hagrid and jumping into a carriage (with Avalon much to Harry's chagrin) they traveled up the narrow path to Hogwarts. As they entered the castle, Avalon split away from the group and Ron immediately leaned towards Harry, "Who was that?"

"Avalon-something," Harry answered as they approached the Great Hall.

"Mr. Potter."

Harry's attention turned towards the oh-so-familiar voice of Professor McGonagall. "Yes Professor?"

"I need to have a word with you please, this way." She gestured away from the Hall. Following her down the hallways they eventually arrived at her office. "Mr. Potter, I believe that I have something of yours."

"I don't believe so Professor," Harry answered, unsure of her meaning.

"Please, take a seat," she motioned to the chair opposite her desk and Harry quickly took the invitation. "I had made this decision quite some time ago; unfortunately it had taken quite some time to deal with the Ministry's remaining red tape. As such, I was unable to get this to you in a timely fashion." After rummaging through one of the drawers of her desk she removed a small brown envelope and handed it to Harry.

Unsure of what decision she could have made 'quite some time ago,' Harry opened the letter to find what appeared to be a silver prefect badge but closer inspection showed that the word "Captain" was where the word "Prefect" would have been. _She made me Captian…I'm Quidditch Captain…_ "Professor, I-"

"Now a few things must be cleared up first," McGonagall interrupted, although the slight grin told Harry that she was just as pleased as he was. "First, although I believe that you will be an excellent Quidditch Captian, I have grown quite accustomed to having the House Cup in my office and I do not want to hand it over to Severus."

She paused, obviously making sure Harry had got the point. Although at that same instant, Harry realized that he didn't have a full team and as Captain it became his job to find replacements. That meant tryouts which he would have to watch over which added one more thing that he needed to do on top of his classes. A feeling of unease began to fill his stomach when Professor McGonagall continued.

"Second, the position of Quidditch Captain grants you the same rights and privileges of a house Prefect including the ability to give and take points. This is a tradition that has gone back as long as Quidditch has been played at this school…mainly to keep other teams from interfering with another house's practices but nevertheless it is a privilege that will be honored. I trust that you won't use them lightly."

"Yes Professor."

"Excellent, that is all Mr. Potter. I believe that we have missed the sorting but we should be able to make it back in time for dinner."

-----

"So what was that about?" Ron asked through a mouthful when Harry sat next to him. Once again he had missed the Sorting Ceremony but was glad to see he hadn't missed dinner. Once in his seat and after grabbing a share of the food covering the table he pulled the silver Captain badge from his pocket and showed it to Ron. "She made you Quidditch Captain? Wicked!"

"The only problem is we only have half a team," Harry managed to say after draining a goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Simple, just have tryouts," Ron replied, before mumbling, "I hope I make the cut."

"What?"

"I just said," Ron voiced loudly, "I hope I make the cut."

"What are you talking about? You're already on the team."

"Harry, look," Ron said softly, "Everyone saw me play last year and if you _don't_ try me out then everyone else would just say I'm there because I'm your mate. I don't want that."

"Do you really want to try out?" Harry asked cautiously.

"If I'm on the team then I want to prove I should be there."

"Okay then," Harry replied realizing his friend had made his choice and after five years of knowing Ron, Harry knew how stubborn he could be.

"So, you remember the new girl?" Ron asked after finishing seconds and reaching for thirds.

"What about her?"

"She's in our house. Took the Hat a while to decide, almost as long as you."

"So…?"

"Well," Ron said, leaning closer, "she's too big for a first year and she has an accent so she's probably a transfer student…do you think its Tonks?"

"Why didn't I think of that?" Harry smacked his forehead before glancing down the table to see where she was sitting. Luckily she wasn't too far and had taken a seat next to Ginny and was currently speaking with Ginny, Lavender, and Pavarti about the American obsession with action movies. Apparently Lavender had seen them before but Pavarti and Ginny, both being from wizarding families, had never heard of movies. Hermione, who was sitting next to Ginny, was completely oblivious of the conversation and was steadily moving mashed potatoes from one side of her plate to the other…_it'll be easier after dinner…_

A few minutes later the empty dishes, helf-full goblets, and the now spotless serving trays vanished from the tables and the entire student body turned expectantly towards Dumbledore. Not one to disappoint, the aged Headmaster dabbed the corner of his mouth with a napkin and rose from his seat. "I would like to welcome all first-years and returning students to another year here at Hogwarts.

"Now as you all know, due to a lack of foresight by the Ministry, we once again have a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher," you would have had to be deaf to miss the cheer that ripped through the Great Hall at the news of an Umbridge-free year. "Now I would like you all to welcome Seran Cleir as our new Professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts." There was a half-hearted round of applause from the assembled students. "I would also like to mention that for those sixth and seventh year students who elected to take Alchemy, Professor Cleir will be your instructor for that class as well."

"Oh joy," Harry groaned.

"Now a few housekeeping matters…I would like to remind all students that the Forbidden Forest is still just that and that students are not allowed in the halls after dark. Our caretaker Mr. Filch has asked me to announce to you that there has been a recent increase of banned items which includes nearly all items sold by Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"Free advertising," Ron mumbled to Harry before Dumbledore continued.

"Now for the parts that must be said. The return of Lord Voldemort-" a collective shudder ripped across the school. "-is something that affects all wizards, not just those who have decided to fight against him. I must ask that you all be wary of anything unusual and be sure to report it to an upper-classman, a Prefect, to our Head Boy or Head Girl, a Head of House, or any of your teachers." His eyes passed over the gathered students and came to rest on Harry with that mysterious twinkle somehow absent, and one thought filled his mind…_he knows something…_

"Now," Dumbledore clapped his hands together pulling Harry from his reverie. "Enough bad news, Prefects if you would lead your first-years to the dorms, I think that we've all had a long day."

Ron leaned to Harry, "The password is _Orion_," before he jumped to his feet. "Oi, all you midgets over here, on me! Come on, let's go!" Harry watched with a small grin as Ron towered over the group of first years. He said few words before leading them from the Great Hall with Hermione following silently at the rear.

Once Ron and Hermione had left the Great Hall, Harry leaned to Avalon, "Wotcher, Avalon."

Her hazel eyes flashed a deep blue before returning to their previous hue. She grinned slightly before replying, "Wotcher Harry," in a perfect American accent.

"We need to talk to Dumbledore, he knows something." She nodded in agreement and the two Gryffindors made their way to where Dumbledore remained sitting with his hands folded before him. "Headmaster, we need to talk-"

"In my office, correct?" Dumbledore rose from his chair and the three quickly exited the Great Hall.


End file.
